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

Court Order Clears the Path for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department formally requested in November to make public grand jury records and exhibits from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This action could lead to the publication of hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents.

The judge's decision, which follows 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 pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by December 19.

Judicial Pattern of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to permit the DOJ to release previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a Florida judge granted a similar request to release transcripts from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the 2000s.

A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending.

Scope of Release Greatly Expanded

The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the transparency act. The most recent filing 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:

• Court-issued warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Data from digital devices
• Evidence from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy 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 convicted of related charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting 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 different channels, including civil cases, official releases, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the material the Justice Department now plans to release originates from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the mid-2000s.

That federal probe concluded in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal charges by pleading guilty to a state charge. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.