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A U.S. judge has determined that the Department of Justice is authorized to carry out the disclosure of investigative materials 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 issued the ruling after the DOJ asked the court in November to unseal grand jury records and exhibits from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This action could lead to the release of a vast number of previously unreleased documents.

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

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to permit the Justice Department to publicly disclose once-confidential records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a similar request to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the early 2000s.

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

Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged

The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this disclosure when it enacted the transparency act. The latest request vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the wide-ranging sex-trafficking investigation.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Notes from victim interviews
• Electronic device data
• Evidence 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 federal jail cell a month later, with his death ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty 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 safeguard victim anonymity and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery.

Prior Releases

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

Much of the evidence the DOJ now plans to release originates from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in 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 then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He completed 13 months in a jail work-release program.