WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) — The ‘Epstein Files’, sealed for years and the object of frenzied speculation, are one step closer to being released to the public.

Both the US House of Representatives and Senate moved Tuesday to order the release of Government files related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The wealthy and well-connected financier died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking underage girls.

But his death did nothing to staunch the furore over his connections with high-profile business executives, celebrities and politicians, including former close friend President Donald Trump.

So what exactly are the Epstein Files?

The Epstein Files refer to the reams of evidence amassed by the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during a probe in Florida that led to his 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution and the investigation that led to his later indictment in New York.

Only a sliver of the Government material has ever been released publicly, and a slew of revelations about Epstein in recent days comes from e-mail traffic surrendered by his estate.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by the House and Senate calls for the release within 30 days of “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” in the possession of the Justice Department, the FBI and US attorneys’ offices related to Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein. She was the only person convicted in connection with the disgraced financier, but Trump’s MAGA [Make America Great Again] supporters have held as an article of faith for years that “deep state” elites were protecting Epstein associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.

The FBI and Justice Department (DOJ) riggered a political furore in July with the release of a memo stating that after an “exhaustive review” there would be no further disclosures of evidence from the investigative files on Epstein.

The FBI/DOJ memo said there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions” or had a “client list”.

Epstein personally “harmed over one thousand victims”, the FBI and DOJ said, but “we did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties”.

Digital searches of Epstein’s electronic devices and physical searches of his various properties, which included a private Caribbean island, had yielded a “significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence”, the memo said.

Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to release the Epstein Files and could have done so at any time since taking office without congressional intervention.

But Trump changed his mind about releasing the files after entering the White House in January and only backed their disclosure this week after it became clear that Congress was going to vote for their release.

Before reversing course, the Republican president ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into connections between Epstein and leading Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton.

Clinton, like Trump, was once close to Epstein, but neither man has been accused of any wrongdoing.

Bondi immediately assigned the task to a prosecutor in New York and the move could potentially complicate the release of some of the material in the files or cause it to be heavily redacted.

The House Bill allows the withholding of material that “would jeopardise an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution”.