A federal judge in New York has ruled that the US Justice Department can publicly release grand jury proceedings into Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking investigation.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer said he ordered the release of the materials because of a recent law passed by Congress that requires the Justice Department to release files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein by the end of next week.
In his ruling, he said the court would create mechanisms to protect victims from disclosure of material that would “identify them or otherwise invade their privacy.”
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in luring underage girls for exploitation by Epstein, her ex-boyfriend. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
Prosecutors alleged Maxwell recruited and groomed girls, some as young as 14, between 1994 and 2004 before they were abused by Epstein.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, was transferred from a Florida prison to a new minimum security facility in Texas in August after she was interviewed by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche about Epstein.
In a letter to Judge Engelmayer, Maxwell's legal team said it was not taking a position on the Justice Department's request to release the grand jury materials.
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which released thousands of files and communications it subpoenaed from Epstein's estate, said the release was a “victory for transparency.”
“These files are now part of the Epstein files held by the Department of Justice and must be turned over to the Oversight Committee in response to our subpoena,” he said.
The order to release the records follows a similar ruling by a Florida judge on Friday that allowed the release of documents related to the state's investigation into Epstein, which began in 2005.
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in November after previously rebuffing calls to release the files.
The law “applies to unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” that relate to Epstein and Maxwell, the court ruling said.
The Justice Department has until Dec. 19 to publicly release all information about the federal investigation into Epstein, although the law also allows the department to withhold files that relate to active criminal investigations or raise privacy concerns.
Judges in Florida and New York have previously refused to release grand jury materials related to Epstein, citing federal rules that require grand jury proceedings to be kept secret.
But after Congress passed a bill to release Epstein's materials, the Justice Department made the same request, arguing that the law's “clear mandate” should “override” those secrecy rules.
