Epstein files released include complaint made to FBI years before 1st investigation

A complaint to the FBI about Jeffrey Epstein filed years before he was first investigated for child sex abuse is among the materials the Justice Department made public Friday as part of its mandated release of files from the investigations into the convicted sex offender, whose connection to the rich and powerful has fueled countless conspiracy theories.

The release contains what appears to be first known report to federal law enforcement that Epstein was involved in child sexual exploitation: a September 1996 complaint filed with the FBI's Miami office accusing Epstein of participating in "child pornography," more than eight years before the first law enforcement investigation into Epstein was launched.

The complainant, Maria Farmer, said that she was a professional artist and took pictures of her younger sisters, age 12 and 16, for personal use, and alleged that Epstein stole the photos and negatives and that he may have "sold the photos to potential buyers."

The complaint says Epstein also requested that she "take photos of young girls at swimming pools" and that Epstein threatened her and said he would "burn her house down" if she told anyone about the photos.

Farmer, whose name was redacted from the documents, confirmed to ABC News that she was the complainant. Speaking to ABC News by phone following the materials' release, she said, "I'm just really grateful. I'm finally able to be vindicated. I feel redeemed."

"And I'm slightly shocked that they've released anything. I didn't expect it," Farmer said.

Friday's release includes thousands of newly released photos, some of which are graphic and heavily redacted with black boxes over faces and body parts. Notations on some redacted images indicate that they were not scanned due to their being child sexual abuse material.

The release also appears to contain images from Epstein's 50th birthday party in January 2003, many of which contain images of other people who are obscured by black boxes.There are dozens of photos of what appears to be the interior of Epstein's New York City apartment after it was searched by authorities in 2019.

In addition to newly released materials, the documents include many files that had previously been released, including documents from more than 50 civil and criminal cases involving Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

The release also includes the full, 354-page text of the 1999 edition of the book "Massage for Dummies."

The DOJ faced a Friday deadline for the release of all remaining Epstein files after Congress last month passed theEpstein Files Transparency Actfollowing theblowbackthe administration receivedseeking the release of the materials.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in an interview Friday morning on Fox and Friends, said, "I expect that we're going to release several hundred thousand documents today ... and then over the next couple of weeks I expect several hundred thousand more."

Several Democratic lawmakers, responding in the afternoon to Blanche's comments, objected to only a partial release of the files Friday.

In a letter to members of Congress Friday afternoon, Blanche wrote, "The Department has worked diligently to meet the Act's deadline. But the volume of the materials to be reviewed ... means that the Department must publicly produce responsive documents on a rolling basis."

Blanche, in his Fox appearance, said, "The most important thing that the attorney general has talked about, that [FBI] Director [Kash] Patel has talked about, is that we protect victims, and so what we're doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected."

The Epstein Files Act says the Justice Department "may withhold or redact" the identities of Epstein's victims, and contains exemptions that would allow the DOJ to withhold records that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution."

Blanche said "there's a lot of eyes" looking over the documents to ensure victim identities have been redacted. The Justice Department in recent weeks has enlisted scores of attorneys from the National Security Division to conduct the review, according to sources familiar with the matter.

"Those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr. Epstein," Blanche said.

He further suggested in the interview that the administration's review has been partially hamstrung by a ruling from a judge in the Southern District of New York that demanded the administration verify that its review is fully protecting the identities of victims.

When asked whether the American public should expect any additional criminal cases to come in the wake of the release of the files, Blanche said, "Look, as the president directed, it's still being investigated, and I expect that will continue to happen. So we, as of today, there's no new charges coming but, but we are investigating."

President Donald Trump recently directed the Justice Department to investigate high-profile Democrats associated with Epstein, a task that Attorney General Pam Bondi then referred to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The Justice Department and FBI announced in July that they would be releasing no additional Epstein files, after several top officials -- including Patel and outgoing FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino -- had, prior to joining the administration, accused the government of shielding information regarding the Epstein case.

The Senate subsequently voted to approved the Epstein transparency bill passed by the House, after which President Donald Trump signed it into law.

Critics of Trump have speculated about the degree to which the president, who had a friendship with Epstein until they had afalling outaround 2004, appears in the Epstein files, while Trump has accused several well-known Democrats of having ties to the disgraced financier.

"Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed, because I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!" Trump wrote on social media after signing the bill.

Epstein owned two private islands in the Virgin Islands and large properties in New York City, New Mexico and Palm Beach, Florida, where he came under investigation for allegedly luring minor girls to his seaside home for massages that turned sexual. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for sex crimes charges after reaching a controversial non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney's office in Miami.

In 2019, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York indicted Epstein on charges that he "sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in Manhattan, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida, among other locations," using cash payments to recruit a "vast network of underage victims," some of whom were as young as 14 years old.

Epstein died by suicidein a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

ABC News' Lauren Peller, John Parkinson, Ely Brown, Elizabeth Thomas, Luke Barr, Armando Garcia, Sasha Pezenik and Will Steakin contributed to this report.