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

Court Order Clears the Path for Document Disclosure

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 release of a vast number of hitherto sealed documents.

The court's ruling, which comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day period. The legislation requires the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by December 19.

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the DOJ to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a judge in Florida granted a comparable petition to unseal records from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the 2000s.

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

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress aimed for this unsealing when it enacted the transparency act. The latest request vastly expanded the range 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
• Banking documents
• Notes from victim interviews
• Data from digital devices
• 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 discovered deceased in a prison cell a month later, with his death ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting survivors and their lawyers and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery.

Prior Releases

Tens of thousands of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including civil cases, official releases, and FOIA requests.

Much of the evidence the Justice Department now intends to disclose stems from photos, videos, and reports collected by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which looked into Epstein in the mid-2000s.

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