The Justice Department can publicly release investigative materials from a sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge said on Tuesday.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled after the Justice Department in November asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s cases, along with investigative materials that could amount to hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents.
-
![]()
Trump signs Epstein bill into law, all files to be released within 30 days -
![]()
Epstein files: Never-before-seen photos, video of private island released by House Democrats -
![]()
DOJ will ‘follow the law with maximum transparency’ on Epstein files, Bondi says -
![]()
‘Nothing to hide’: Trump now urging House Republicans to vote to release Epstein files
The ruling, in the wake of the passage last month of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means the records could be made public within 10 days. The law requires the Justice Department provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Dec. 19.
Get daily National news
Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Last week, a judge in Florida granted the department’s request to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein in the 2000s.
A request to release records from Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case is still pending.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said the Epstein Files Transparency Act, ordering the release of records related to the cases, overrode a federal rule prohibiting the release of grand jury materials.
The law was signed by President Donald Trump last month. It compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release by Dec. 19 the vast troves of material they have amassed during investigations into Epstein and Maxwell.
The Justice Department has requested the unsealing of documents from three Epstein-related separate cases: the 2006-2007 Florida grand jury investigation into Epstein, his 2019 sex trafficking case in New York and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case, also in New York. The Florida request was approved on December 5.
Comments