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A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department can proceed with the disclosure of case files from the sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein.

Court Order Paves the Way for Document Disclosure

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department asked the court in November to make public grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This action could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents.

The judge's decision, which follows the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these records could be released within a 10-day period. The legislation requires the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by a specified date in December.

Judicial Pattern of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose once-confidential 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 early 2000s.

A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case is still under consideration.

Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged

The Justice Department has stated that Congress aimed for 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 investigative materials during the wide-ranging probe.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Electronic device data
• Material from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal 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 related charges in December 2021 and is currently 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 stop the sharing of sensitive imagery.

Prior Releases

Tens of thousands of pages of documents pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through various means, including lawsuits, 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 Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which looked into Epstein in the 2000s.

That federal probe ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He served 13 months in a work-release program.