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A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department can proceed with the disclosure of investigative materials 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 made the decision after the DOJ formally requested in November to make public grand jury transcripts and evidence from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request could lead to the release of a vast number of previously unreleased documents.

The court's ruling, which follows the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these records could be released within a 10-day period. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide Epstein-related records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December.

Judicial Pattern of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to allow the DOJ to publicly disclose once-confidential records from the Epstein case. Recently, a Florida judge granted a similar request to unseal records from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case remains pending.

Breadth of Disclosure Significantly Enlarged

The DOJ has stated that Congress aimed for this unsealing when it passed the transparency act. The most recent filing dramatically enlarged the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the wide-ranging probe.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Electronic device data
• Material from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges. He was found dead in a federal jail cell a month later, with his death ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a two-decade sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

A significant number of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through various means, including civil cases, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the material the DOJ 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 2000s.

That investigation concluded in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal prosecution by entering a guilty plea to a state prostitution charge. He completed 13 months in a jail work-release program.