🔗 Share this article Judge Rules DOJ Can Release Ghislaine Maxwell Court Documents A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department is authorized to carry out the disclosure of investigative materials from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate 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 make public grand jury records and evidence from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents. The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these materials could be made public 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 Unsealing Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the Justice Department to release once-confidential records from the Epstein case. 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 further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending. Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged The Justice Department has stated that Congress aimed for this disclosure when it enacted the transparency act. The most recent filing dramatically enlarged the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation. These materials are reported to include items such as: Court-issued warrants Banking documents Notes from victim interviews Electronic device data Material from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida Context of the Cases Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges. He was discovered deceased in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. The government has indicated it is consulting victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of explicit imagery. Previous Disclosures A significant number of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including civil cases, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests. Much of the material the Justice Department now intends to disclose stems from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s. That investigation ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He served 13 months in a work-release program.