🔗 Share this article Judge Decides DOJ Can Make Public Maxwell Court Materials A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department can proceed with the disclosure of case files from the sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein. Judicial Ruling Paves the Way for Document Disclosure Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department formally requested in November to unseal 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 Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day period. The legislation mandates the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by a specified date in December. Growing Trend of Disclosure Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. 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 Greatly Expanded The DOJ has stated that Congress intended this disclosure when it passed the Transparency Act. The most recent filing vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation. These materials are reported to include items such as: Search warrants Banking documents Notes from victim interviews Electronic device data Material 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 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 two-decade sentence. The government has indicated it is consulting survivors and their lawyers and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of explicit imagery. Previous Disclosures A significant number of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including civil cases, official releases, and FOIA requests. Much of the material the DOJ now intends to disclose stems 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 then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He completed 13 months in a jail work-release program.