🔗 Share this article Judge Decides Justice Department Can Make Public Ghislaine Maxwell Court Materials A federal judge has determined that the Department of Justice can proceed with the disclosure of investigative materials 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 made the decision after the DOJ asked the court in November to make public grand jury records and exhibits from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This request could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents. The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day period. The new law mandates the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a searchable format by a specified date in December. 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 granted 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 criminal case remains pending. Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged The DOJ has stated that Congress aimed for this disclosure when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request dramatically enlarged the range of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation. These materials are reported to include items such as: Court-issued warrants Banking documents Survivor interview notes Data from digital devices Evidence from prior probes in Florida Case Background Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy 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 convicted of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is serving a two-decade sentence. The government has indicated it is conferring with survivors and their lawyers and will edit records to safeguard victim anonymity and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery. Previous Disclosures A significant number of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through different channels, including lawsuits, official releases, and FOIA requests. Much of the material the Justice Department now plans to release originates from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s. That federal probe ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by entering a guilty plea to a state prostitution charge. He completed over a year in a work-release program.