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A U.S. judge has determined that the Department of Justice can proceed with the public release of case files from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

Judicial Ruling Clears the Path for Document Disclosure

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the Justice Department formally requested in November to make public grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request could lead to the release of a vast number of previously unreleased documents.

The judge's decision, which follows the recent enactment of the Transparency Act, means these materials could be made public within a 10-day window. The new law requires the DOJ to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by December 19.

Growing Trend of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a Florida judge approved a comparable petition 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 is still under consideration.

Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged

The DOJ has stated that Congress intended this unsealing when it enacted the Transparency Act. The most recent filing dramatically enlarged the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the extensive probe.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Electronic device data
• Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was taken into custody 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 found guilty of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

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

Much of the evidence the Justice Department now plans to release originates from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s.

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