Independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council have warned that millions of files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein may reveal acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity. The documents, released by the U.S. Justice Department, describe a transnational network that exploited women and girls under a backdrop of racism, corruption, misogyny, and supremacist beliefs.

“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the experts said in a statement. They highlighted how the files show the commodification and dehumanization of women, urging independent, thorough, and impartial investigations into the crimes and the prolonged failures that allowed them to continue.

The experts also criticized “serious compliance failures and botched redactions” in the document release, which exposed sensitive victim information. More than 1,200 victims have been identified in the released files, many of whom describe feeling retraumatized and subjected to “institutional gaslighting.”

The documents shed light on Epstein’s connections to prominent figures across politics, finance, academia, and business, spanning both before and after his 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage girl. Epstein, who was arrested again on federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide in 2019 while in jail.