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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 Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ asked the court in November to make public grand jury transcripts and evidence from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This request could lead to the publication of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents.

The judge's decision, which follows the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these records could be released within a 10-day period. The new law mandates the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by December 19.

Judicial Pattern of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the Justice Department to release previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a similar request 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 criminal case remains pending.

Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged

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 investigative materials during the wide-ranging sex-trafficking investigation.

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Court-issued warrants
• Financial records
• Notes from victim interviews
• Data from digital devices
• Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Context of the Cases

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was discovered deceased in a federal jail 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 two-decade 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.

Prior Releases

Tens of thousands of pages of records related to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through various means, including lawsuits, 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 collected by police in Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated 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 charge. He completed over a year in a work-release program.