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A U.S. judge has ruled 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.

Court Order Clears the Path for Document Disclosure

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ 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 hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents.

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

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the Justice Department to release 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 early 2000s.

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

Breadth of Disclosure Significantly Enlarged

The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this disclosure when it enacted the transparency act. The latest request dramatically enlarged the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the wide-ranging probe.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Electronic device data
• Evidence 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 ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a two-decade sentence.

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

Prior Releases

A significant number of pages of records related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the evidence the Justice Department now plans to release originates from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which investigated Epstein in the mid-2000s.

That investigation ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal charges by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He completed 13 months in a work-release program.