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A federal judge has ruled that the Justice Department is authorized to carry out 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 Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department formally requested in November to unseal grand jury records and exhibits from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request 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 mandates the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by December 19.

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the DOJ to release previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida 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 sex-trafficking case remains pending.

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

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

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Banking documents
• Notes from victim interviews
• Data from digital devices
• Material from prior probes in Florida

Context of the Cases

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

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

Previous Disclosures

A significant number of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through various means, including civil cases, official releases, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the evidence the Justice Department now intends to disclose originates from photos, videos, and reports collected by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which investigated Epstein in the mid-2000s.

That investigation concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.