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A U.S. judge has ruled that the Department of Justice can proceed with 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 Document Disclosure

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the DOJ asked the court in November to make public grand jury records and exhibits from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This action could lead to the publication of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents.

The judge's decision, which follows the recent enactment of the Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day window. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December.

Growing Trend of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a Florida judge granted a similar request to release transcripts from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s.

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

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The Justice Department has stated that Congress aimed for this unsealing when it passed the Transparency Act. The most recent filing vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Notes from victim interviews
• Electronic device data
• Material from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a 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 sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting survivors and their lawyers and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of explicit imagery.

Prior Releases

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

Much of the evidence the DOJ now plans to release stems from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which investigated Epstein in the mid-2000s.

That federal probe concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He served 13 months in a work-release program.