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A U.S. judge has determined that the Department of Justice can proceed with the public release of investigative materials from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein.

Court Order Paves the Way for Document Disclosure

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the Justice Department formally requested in November to make public grand jury records and evidence from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This request could lead to the publication of a vast number of previously unreleased documents.

The judge's decision, which follows the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day period. The legislation mandates the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by December 19.

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to allow the Justice Department to release 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 further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case is still under consideration.

Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded

The DOJ has stated that Congress aimed for 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 materials are reported to include items such as:

• Court-issued warrants
• Banking documents
• Notes from victim interviews
• Electronic device data
• Evidence from prior probes in Florida

Context of the Cases

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking 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 government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

A significant number of pages of records related 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 material the DOJ now plans to release stems from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, 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 prosecution by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He completed 13 months in a work-release program.