🔗 Share this article Federal Judge Rules Justice Department Can Make Public Ghislaine Maxwell Case Materials A federal judge has ruled that the Justice Department is authorized to carry out 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 Document Disclosure Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department formally requested in November to make public grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This request could lead to the publication of hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents. The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these materials could be made public within a 10-day window. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December. Judicial Pattern of Disclosure Engelmayer is the latest jurist to allow the Justice Department to release once-confidential records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida granted a comparable petition to release transcripts from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the 2000s. A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case remains pending. Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the Transparency Act. The most recent filing vastly expanded the scope of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of investigative materials during the extensive probe. These documents are reported to include items such as: Search warrants Banking documents Notes from victim interviews 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 ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. The federal authorities has indicated it is conferring with survivors and their lawyers and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of explicit imagery. Previous Disclosures A significant number of pages of documents pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through different channels, including civil cases, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests. Much of the evidence the Justice Department now plans to release originates 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 2000s. That investigation concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that enabled Epstein to evade federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He served over a year in a jail work-release program.