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

Court Order Clears the Path for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the DOJ formally requested in November to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This action could lead to the release of a vast number of hitherto sealed documents.

The court's ruling, which follows the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day window. The new law requires the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by December 19.

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the latest jurist to permit the DOJ to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a similar request to release transcripts from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case is still under consideration.

Scope of Release Greatly Expanded

The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress aimed for this unsealing when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the wide-ranging probe.

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Electronic device data
• Material from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal 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 serving a two-decade sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and will edit records to safeguard victim anonymity and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery.

Previous Disclosures

Tens of thousands of pages of records pertaining 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 evidence the DOJ now plans to release stems from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which looked into Epstein in the mid-2000s.

That investigation ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that enabled Epstein to evade federal charges by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.