I Made 33,891 Sealed Epstein Documents Searchable — The FBI Didn’t Want You to Read Them This Easily
An Australian MD/PhD Engineer vs. American Government Transparency Theater
The DOJ released these documents as unsearchable images. I spent 200+ hours making them actually useful. Now I need community support to keep this live platform running — or I’ll release the processed data publicly and move on to paid work.
The Department of Justice released 33,891 Epstein documents as unsearchable images — essentially useless to anyone without months to spare.
I’m Andrew Walsh, an Australian MD/PhD engineer who spent 200+ hours fixing what I believe was deliberate obfuscation. Now anyone can search these documents in seconds. For free.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I’m not politically motivated. I’m an engineer who saw a technical problem harming democracy and fixed it.
“The FBI had thousands of agents redacting these documents. I had one laptop making them searchable. Guess which approach serves democracy better?”
🚨 CRITICAL WINDOW 🚨
MVP LAUNCH: Awaiting funding to deploy
Funding Needed: $3,000 minimum to go live
Current: $50
Without funding: I’ll release the processed database and move to paid work
With funding: Permanent searchable archive for humanity
The DOJ’s “Transparency” Problem
When the DOJ released the Epstein court documents, they did something that technically counts as transparency while practically ensuring most people couldn’t use them.
They released 33,000+ documents as image files. No text search. No organization. No way for ordinary citizens to find anything without hundreds of hours to manually scroll through JPEGs and lengthy audio/video files.
This isn’t transparency — it’s transparency theater.
What I Built
After 200+ hours, I’ve created the only searchable database of these documents:
✅ Full-Text Search
Every document searchable in seconds. Type any name, phrase, or keyword — find every reference instantly across all 33,891 documents.
✅ AI-Powered Entity Extraction
- Tens of thousands of entities identified (people, places, dates, organizations)
- Cross-document connections mapped
- Smart deduplication preventing duplicate document matching
✅ Audio Transcript Integration
All 81 audio files transcribed with synchronized playback. Click any line in the transcript to jump directly to that moment in the audio.
✅ Professional Interface
Clean, fast, intuitive design optimized for serious research. This isn’t a demo — it’s production-ready software.
Infrastructure that typically costs $10,000+/month? I built it for $100.
Want a Demo?
Journalists/Researchers: Email awalsh@sifterlabs.dev for private screenshare
Major Donors: Direct access to test the system
Everyone Else: Public launch in 3–5 days WITH YOUR HELP
This Transcends Politics
Making these documents searchable unites Americans across the political spectrum:
- Trump supporters want transparency — he campaigned on releasing them
- Democrats have consistently pushed for full access
- Independents just want the truth
The files were released with appropriate redactions protecting victims. But as unsearchable images? Useless.
As an Australian, I have no stake in your politics. I just noticed everyone agrees these should be searchable. So I made them searchable.
Why It’s Free (And Always Will Be)
I could have monetized this. I didn’t.
Charging for access to public documents would harm democratic transparency. Everything remains free:
- Full document search
- Audio transcripts
- Entity browsing
- No registration required
- No usage limits
This is public service, not profit.
The 30-Day Crisis
I have 30 days of resources left.
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I’ve invested my savings and 200+ hours into this project. Without funding, this unique resource disappears forever — not because anyone forced it offline, but because one engineer ran out of funds doing what government agencies wouldn’t.
Without This Database:
- Journalists must manually scan 33,891 images, video and audio — effectively impossible
- Researchers can’t cross-reference connections
- Citizens have no practical access to “public” information
- Future releases won’t have processing infrastructure
With This Database:
- Instant searches across all documents
- Pattern detection revealing connections
- Community investigation tools
- Permanent infrastructure for future releases
About Privacy & Redactions
Important: FBI redactions protecting victims remain intact. This project simply makes already-public documents searchable. It doesn’t bypass redactions or reveal protected information.
Future Vision
When new Epstein files are released, this platform becomes a collaborative research hub:
- Immediate Processing: New documents searchable within days
- Cross-Reference Power: Automatic linking to existing entities
- Pattern Recognition: AI identifies hidden connections
- Community Intelligence: Thousands of researchers working together
Each new release doesn’t just add to the pile — it illuminates the entire collection.
How You Can Help
1. DONATE (If Possible)
- $3 = One day of server costs
- $50 = One week of development
- $500 = One month full operation
Technical Status: Completing semantic search integration and cloud deployment (estimated 1–2 weeks)
2. SHARE (30 seconds)
“Australian engineer made 33,000 Epstein docs searchable. Government released them as images. 30 days to save this free resource: [link] ”
3. TELL A JOURNALIST (30 seconds)
“Story tip: Engineer made Epstein docs searchable, FBI made them images. 30 days to save it: [link]”
4. SUPPORT THIS STORY(10 seconds)
Just clap this story to help it reach more people.
🚨 PROJECT STATUS
Days Until Shutdown: 30
Funding Raised: $50 / $3,000 minimum
Database Status: ✅ Complete, deployment in progress
Public Launch: Waiting for funding
What I’ve Built
- Documents Processed: 33,891 with AI analysis
- Audio Transcribed: 81 files with synchronized playback
- Entities Extracted: Tens of thousands of people, places, dates, organizations
- Search Performance: Sub-second results
- Infrastructure Cost: $100/month vs $10,000+ commercial
- Status: Ready to deploy, needs funding
The Bottom Line
I built the only searchable database of 33,891 Epstein documents. I made it free for everyone. Now I need help keeping it alive.
This isn’t just about one database — it’s about proving that government opacity is a choice, not a necessity.
The government made them unsearchable. I made them searchable. Help me keep them searchable.
Weekly Updates
Week 1 (Oct 4): Article published, seeking funding
Week 2: [To be updated] — MVP launch status
Week 3: [To be updated] — User feedback
Week 4: [To be updated] — Sustainability plan
Updates every Monday 8pm AEST
Professional Background: LinkedIn — Andrew Walsh, MD/PhD
Contact: awalsh@sifterlabs.dev
Status: Currently local, awaiting funds for public deployment
This project has no connection to any government agency or political organization. It is an independent public service project.
