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A federal judge has ruled that the Justice Department can proceed with the disclosure of investigative materials from the sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

Judicial Ruling Clears the Path for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ formally requested in November to unseal grand jury records and evidence from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. 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 passage of the Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day period. The new law mandates the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by a specified date in December.

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 judge in Florida 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 is still under consideration.

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The Justice Department has stated that Congress intended this disclosure when it enacted the transparency act. The latest request dramatically enlarged the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

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

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy 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 officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a two-decade sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of explicit imagery.

Previous Disclosures

A significant number of pages of records related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through various means, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the material the DOJ 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 2000s.

That federal probe concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He completed over a year in a jail work-release program.