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A federal judge has ruled that the Justice Department can proceed with the public release of case files from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein.

Court Order Clears the Path for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department asked the court in November to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This action could lead to the publication of a vast number of previously unreleased documents.

The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day window. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by a specified date in December.

Judicial Pattern of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to permit the Justice Department to release previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a comparable petition 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 is still under consideration.

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The DOJ has stated that Congress aimed for this unsealing when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request dramatically enlarged the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the wide-ranging sex-trafficking investigation.

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Court-issued warrants
• Banking documents
• Survivor interview notes
• Electronic device data
• Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on federal charges. He was discovered deceased in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

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 Justice Department now intends to disclose originates from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s.

That investigation concluded in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He completed 13 months in a jail work-release program.