The Justice Department on Friday urged a federal judge handling the case of the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to reject a petition from NBC News to reveal the identities of two individuals who received substantial sums from him in 2018, according to court documents. The department cited the privacy concerns of these two persons as the basis for keeping their names confidential.

One associate received $100,000 and the other $250,000 from Epstein in 2018, shortly after the Miami Herald began releasing a series of investigative reports criticizing the plea agreement he secured in Florida in 2008.

As part of the plea agreement, Epstein secured a statement from federal prosecutors in Florida that the two individuals would not be prosecuted.

These payments came to light following Epstein’s indictment and subsequent arrest in New York in 2019, as he sought bail. Federal prosecutors in New York submitted a memorandum on July 16, 2019, arguing Epstein should remain in custody to prevent potential witness tampering.

They pointed out the timing of these payments, which occurred just two days after the Miami Herald commenced publishing its articles on Epstein’s plea deal, often referred to as a nonprosecution agreement (NPA).

The prosecutors noted that on November 30, 2018, Epstein “transferred $100,000 from a trust account under his control to an individual identified as [REDACTED], noted as a potential co-conspirator granted protection under the NPA.”

Prosecutors also wrote that “this individual was also named and featured prominently in the Herald series.”

They further mentioned that “the records also indicate that merely three days later, around December 3, 2018, Epstein transferred $250,000 from the same trust account to [REDACTED], who was likewise identified as a potential co-conspirator protected under the NPA.”

The prosecutors continued: “This individual is also one of the employees identified in the Indictment, which alleges that she and two other identified employees facilitated the defendant’s trafficking of minors by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with the defendant at his residences in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.”

Prosecutors said in the filings that Epstein’s payments may be evidence of “efforts to influence witnesses.”

“This course of action, and in particular its timing,” they said, “suggests the defendant was attempting to further influence co-conspirators who might provide information against him in light of the recently re-emerging allegations.”

Last month, NBC News sent a letter asking U.S. District Judge Richard Berman to unseal the redacted names because Epstein is deceased, the criminal proceedings have ended, and the Justice Department said in a memo in July that there would be no additional charges filed against uncharged third parties.

Berman gave federal prosecutors until Sept. 5 to respond.

In a Sept. 5 reply letter, Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote, “Individual-1 and Individual-2 are uncharged third parties who have not waived their privacy interests; indeed, both Individual-1 and Individual-2 have expressly objected to the unsealing of their names and personal identifying information in the July 2019 Letter.”

Clayton said the two unnamed individuals sent letters to the U.S. attorney’s office expressing their concern but that those letters are under seal.

The judge has given NBC News until Sept. 12 to respond to the Justice Department’s request that the names remain secret.

It is not known when Berman will make a ruling on NBC News’ request.