🔗 Share this article Federal Judge Decides Justice Department May Make Public Maxwell Court Documents A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department can proceed with the public release of case files from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein. Court Order Clears the Path for Document Disclosure Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ asked the court in November to unseal grand jury transcripts and evidence from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This action could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents. The court's ruling, which follows the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these materials could be made public within a 10-day period. 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 second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose once-confidential Epstein court records. Recently, a Florida judge approved a similar request to unseal records 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. Scope of Release Greatly Expanded The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress aimed for this disclosure when it passed the transparency act. The most recent filing dramatically enlarged the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation. These documents are reported to include items such as: Search warrants Financial records Notes from victim interviews Electronic device data Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida Case Background Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on federal charges. He was found dead in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of related charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a two-decade sentence. The government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to safeguard victim anonymity and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery. Prior Releases A significant number of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including lawsuits, official releases, and FOIA requests. Much of the material the Justice Department now intends to disclose stems from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which looked into Epstein in the 2000s. That investigation ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by entering a guilty plea to a state prostitution charge. He served 13 months in a work-release program.