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A U.S. judge has ruled that the Justice Department is authorized to carry out 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 Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the DOJ asked the court 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 hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents.

The court's ruling, which follows the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day window. The new law mandates the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by a specified date in December.

Growing Trend of Unsealing

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to allow the DOJ to publicly disclose previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida 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 criminal case is still under consideration.

Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged

The Justice Department has stated that Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request 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
• Survivor interview notes
• Data from digital devices
• Material from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on federal 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 20-year prison sentence.

The government has indicated it is consulting victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

Tens of thousands of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through various means, including civil cases, official releases, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the material the Justice Department now plans to release stems from photos, videos, and reports collected by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s.

That federal probe concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He served over a year in a work-release program.