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A U.S. judge has determined that the Department of Justice is authorized to carry out the public release of investigative materials from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

Court Order Paves the Way for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the Justice Department formally requested 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 court's ruling, which follows the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day period. The new law requires the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by December 19.

Judicial Pattern of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a Florida judge granted a similar request to unseal records from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending.

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this disclosure when it enacted the Transparency Act. The most recent filing vastly expanded the scope of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of investigative materials during the wide-ranging sex-trafficking investigation.

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Banking documents
• Survivor interview notes
• Data from digital devices
• Material from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges. He was found dead in a prison cell a month later, with his death ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a two-decade sentence.

The government has indicated it is conferring with survivors and their lawyers and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of explicit imagery.

Prior Releases

Tens of thousands of pages of documents pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through different channels, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and FOIA requests.

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

That investigation concluded in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He served over a year in a jail work-release program.