🔗 Share this article Federal Judge Decides DOJ May Release Maxwell Court Materials A U.S. judge has determined that the Department of Justice is authorized to carry out the public release of case files from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein. Court Order Paves the Way for Document Disclosure Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ 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 publication of a vast number of previously unreleased documents. The judge's decision, which follows the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these records could be released within a 10-day window. The new law mandates the DOJ to provide Epstein-related records in a digitally searchable form by December 19. Judicial Pattern of Unsealing Engelmayer is the latest jurist to permit the Justice Department to release previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a judge in Florida granted a comparable petition to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the 2000s. A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case is still under consideration. Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress aimed for this disclosure when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include 18 categories of evidence gathered during the extensive probe. These materials are reported to include items such as: Court-issued warrants Financial records Notes from victim interviews Electronic device data Evidence from prior probes in Florida Case Background Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was discovered deceased in a prison 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 government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and will edit records to safeguard victim anonymity and stop the sharing of explicit imagery. Previous Disclosures Tens of thousands of pages of records related to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through different channels, including civil cases, public disclosures, and FOIA requests. Much of the evidence the DOJ 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 mid-2000s. That federal probe ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that enabled Epstein to evade federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He completed over a year in a jail work-release program.