The release of millions of U.S. Justice Department records related to Jeffrey Epstein has renewed scrutiny of Brett Ratner, the director of an Amazon-backed documentary about Melania Trump, after images surfaced showing him in close proximity to the late financier and unidentified young women.
The photographs, released on Friday under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, depict Ratner seated on a sofa with Epstein and two young women whose faces are redacted, as well as images of him embracing women and posing with Jean-Luc Brunel, a longtime Epstein associate who died by suicide in a French jail cell in 2022.
The newly disclosed material forms part of more than three million pages of documents, alongside thousands of videos and images, made public by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The images appear consistent with previously released photographs showing Ratner with Epstein and Brunel, though the precise dates and circumstances remain unclear.
There is no indication of wrongdoing by Ratner in the files, which were redacted to protect victims and ongoing investigations, and his representatives have been contacted for comment.
Among the documents is a 2016 email from Epstein reflecting on the U.S. presidential election, which included remarks about Donald Trump and Melania Trump that the couple have denied.
Donald Trump said over the weekend that the latest tranche of Epstein files “absolves” him of any wrongdoing.
Ratner, once a prominent Hollywood director behind the Rush Hour franchise and X-Men: The Last Stand, has been largely absent from the film industry since multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement in 2017.
He denied the allegations, was not charged with crimes, and has not released a theatrical film in nearly a decade.
His return to prominence comes with Melania, a documentary produced by Amazon’s MGM Studios, which reportedly paid $40 million for the rights and backed the project with a global marketing budget of $35 million.
The film premiered in Washington last week but has faced weak box office interest in the United Kingdom, with cinemas reporting minimal ticket sales on opening night.
Ratner has maintained close ties to the Trump family, lived at Mar-a-Lago, and previously relocated to Israel, where he developed connections with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The renewed attention underscores how the expanding release of Epstein-related records continues to draw in figures from politics, entertainment, and international public life.