The Department of Justice asked the federal judge overseeing the case of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to keep anonymous the names of two associates who received money from him in 2018.

The first associate received $100,000 from Epstein, and the second received $250,000, with both payments made after the Miami Herald published a series where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.

NBC News has tried to make the names of the two people public since last month. As part of the 2008 plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to keep those names sealed.

The payments only became public after Epstein was indicted and arrested in 2019.

Prosecutors wrote on Nov. 30, 2018, that Epstein “wired $100,000 from a trust account he controlled, to an indi

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