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A federal judge has determined 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.

Judicial Ruling Clears the Path for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the DOJ formally requested in November to unseal grand jury records and evidence 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 comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Transparency Act, means these records could be released within a 10-day period. The legislation mandates the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by December 19.

Judicial Pattern of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the DOJ to release previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a Florida judge granted a similar request to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the 2000s.

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

Breadth of Disclosure Significantly Enlarged

The Justice Department has stated that Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the transparency act. The most recent filing dramatically enlarged the scope of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of investigative materials during the wide-ranging sex-trafficking investigation.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Banking documents
• Notes from victim interviews
• Electronic device data
• Material from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was discovered deceased in a prison cell a month later, with his death ruled 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 survivors and their lawyers and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

Tens of thousands of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through various means, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and FOIA requests.

Much of the material the Justice Department now plans to release originates from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which looked into Epstein in the 2000s.

That investigation ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by pleading guilty to a state charge. He served over a year in a work-release program.