Judge grants US Justice Dept request to unseal Maxwell records in Epstein case

The US Justice Department has been granted permission to publicly release a substantial tranche of investigative materials from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, long-time associate of late financier and convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein, after a federal judge in New York approved the request on Tuesday.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer authorised the disclosure less than a month after the department sought permission from two New York judges to unseal grand jury transcripts, exhibits and a wide array of investigative records tied to both Maxwell and Epstein. Officials indicated the release could encompass hundreds or even thousands of previously unseen documents.

This could impact what is widely believed to be a huge network of some of the world's wealthiest and most influential people, primarily men, who once counted the disgraced Epstein among their close friends, including US President Donald Trump.

The judge’s ruling follows the enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, adopted by the US Congress and signed last month, which compels the Justice Department to make Epstein-related records publicly accessible in a searchable format by 19 December. Under Engelmayer’s order, the first tranche may now be released within 10 days.

This marks the second time in a week that a federal judge has permitted previously secret Epstein materials to be made public. Just days earlier, a Florida judge approved the department’s request to disclose transcripts from a federal grand jury investigation into Epstein dating back to the 2000s — a probe that was abandoned before it reached trial.

A separate petition seeking access to documents from Epstein’s 2019 federal case remains pending.

Until recently, courts had resisted the department’s attempts to unseal grand jury testimony — an extraordinarily rare step — with three different judges rejecting earlier petitions from prosecutors.

This latest request, however, was far broader than previous ones, expanding the scope to encompass 18 categories of investigative materials compiled over almost two decades of sex-trafficking inquiries.

The department argued that Congress clearly intended for such disclosures when it approved the transparency legislation. The new law was passed with massive bipartisan support and signed by Trump.

Epstein, a financier with extensive political and social connections, was arrested in July 2019 on sex-trafficking charges. He died under mysterious circumstances a month later in a Manhattan federal jail cell, in what authorities ruled was a suicide. Maxwell was arrested the following year and convicted in December 2021 of aiding Epstein’s abuse. She is currently serving a 20-year sentence.

In submissions required by the New York judges, the Justice Department gave a detailed preview of the categories of material it intends to release. These include:

• Search warrants and accompanying affidavits

• Years of financial documents

• Notes from survivor interviews

• Digital data extracted from computers and other devices

• Materials from the earlier Florida investigations conducted by Palm Beach police and federal prosecutors

The department said it is currently consulting survivors and their legal teams to ensure identities are protected and any “sexualised images” remain redacted prior to release.

Maxwell’s lawyer told the court that his client “took no position” on the unsealing request but warned that the public release of extensive investigative files could undermine a planned habeas corpus petition. Such a disclosure, he argued, “would create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial” should courts eventually allow one.

At least one prominent survivor, Annie Farmer, urged the judges not to allow procedural objections to impede transparency. Through attorney Sigrid S. McCawley, Farmer said she “is wary of the possibility that any denial of the motions may be used by others as a pretext or excuse for continuing to withhold crucial information concerning Epstein's crimes”.

Although tens of thousands of pages related to Epstein and Maxwell have already surfaced through civil litigation, FOIA requests and other court disclosures, a significant volume of material still remains sealed. Much of what the Justice Department now plans to release originates from the extensive evidence amassed in Florida in the mid-2000s — a period during which both local police and the US attorney’s office in Miami pursued Epstein before the investigation abruptly ended in 2008.

In that year, Epstein reached a controversial non-prosecution agreement that allowed him to avoid federal sex-trafficking charges in exchange for pleading guilty to a state prostitution offence involving a minor. He served 13 months in a county jail under a work-release scheme that later drew national outrage.

Further transparency moves have been underway since last year. A Florida state judge ordered the release of roughly 150 pages of transcripts from a 2006 state grand jury. And on 5 December, responding to the Justice Department’s renewed push, a federal judge in Florida ordered the unsealing of transcripts from another federal grand jury that had investigated Epstein during the same period.

With Engelmayer’s approval, the Justice Department is poised to make public a sweeping archive of long-sealed investigative material — potentially the most significant release of documents in the Epstein–Maxwell saga since Epstein’s 2019 arrest. The move could reveal new details about federal decision-making, investigative gaps, witness accounts and the scope of Epstein’s network.

Whether additional records, including those from Epstein’s 2019 prosecution, will follow remains to be seen. That request is still before the court.

With AP/PTI inputs