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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 action could lead to the release of a vast number of hitherto sealed documents.

The court's ruling, which follows the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day period. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide Epstein-related records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December.

Judicial Pattern of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose once-confidential Epstein court records. Recently, a judge in Florida granted a comparable petition to release transcripts from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A separate request concerning records from Epstein's 2019 sex-trafficking case remains pending.

Breadth of Disclosure Significantly Enlarged

The DOJ has stated that Congress intended this disclosure when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request vastly expanded the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the extensive probe.

These materials are reported to include items such as:

• Search warrants
• Financial records
• Survivor interview notes
• Data from digital devices
• Evidence from prior probes in Florida

Case Background

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on federal charges. He was discovered deceased in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of related charges in December 2021 and is serving a two-decade sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to safeguard victim anonymity and prevent the dissemination of explicit imagery.

Previous Disclosures

Tens of thousands of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and FOIA requests.

Much of the evidence the Justice Department now intends to disclose originates from reports, photographs, videos collected by police in Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s.

That federal probe ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He completed 13 months in a work-release program.