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A federal judge has ruled that the Justice Department is authorized to carry out the public release of case files from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

Judicial Ruling Paves the Way for Document Disclosure

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the Justice Department asked the court in November to make public grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents.

The court's ruling, which follows the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these materials could be made public within a 10-day period. The new law requires the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by December 19.

Judicial Pattern of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the Justice Department to release once-confidential records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a comparable petition to unseal records from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case remains pending.

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the transparency act. The most recent filing vastly expanded the scope of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of investigative materials during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Court-issued warrants
• Banking documents
• Survivor interview notes
• Data from digital devices
• Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was found dead in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a two-decade sentence.

The government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and will edit records to safeguard victim anonymity and prevent the dissemination of explicit imagery.

Previous Disclosures

Tens of thousands of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through various means, including civil cases, official releases, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the evidence the Justice Department now intends to disclose originates from photos, videos, and reports collected by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which looked into Epstein in the 2000s.

That federal probe ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal charges by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He served over a year in a work-release program.