🔗 Share this article Federal Judge Decides Justice Department Can Make Public Ghislaine Maxwell Court Materials A U.S. judge has ruled that the Justice Department can proceed with the disclosure of investigative materials from the sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Court Order Clears the Path for Document Disclosure Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the Justice Department formally requested in November to unseal 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 hitherto sealed documents. The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day period. The new law requires the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December. Growing Trend of Unsealing Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a Florida judge granted a comparable petition 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 remains pending. Scope of Release Greatly Expanded The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress aimed for this disclosure when it enacted the Transparency Act. The latest request vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation. These documents are reported to include items such as: Court-issued warrants Banking documents Survivor interview notes Data from digital devices Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida Case Background Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was discovered deceased in a federal jail cell a month later, with his death ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. The federal authorities has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of explicit imagery. Prior Releases A significant number of pages of documents pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and FOIA requests. Much of the material the DOJ now plans to release stems from photos, videos, and reports gathered 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 ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He completed 13 months in a work-release program.