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

Judicial Ruling Paves the Way for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ asked the court in November to make public grand jury transcripts and evidence from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request could lead to the publication of a vast number of hitherto sealed documents.

The court's ruling, which comes in the wake of the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day window. The legislation mandates the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by December 19.

Growing Trend of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida granted a similar request to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending.

Scope of Release Greatly Expanded

The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this disclosure when it enacted the Transparency Act. The most recent filing vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the extensive probe.

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Court-issued warrants
• Financial records
• Notes from victim interviews
• Data from digital devices
• Evidence from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

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

The government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of explicit imagery.

Prior Releases

A significant number of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including lawsuits, official releases, and FOIA requests.

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

That federal probe concluded in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He completed over a year in a work-release program.