🔗 Share this article Federal Judge Decides DOJ Can Release Ghislaine Maxwell Court Documents A U.S. judge has ruled that the Justice Department can proceed with the public release of case files from the sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein. Judicial Ruling Clears the Path for Records Release Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department formally requested in November to make public grand jury transcripts and evidence from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This action could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents. The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of 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 pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by December 19. Judicial Pattern of Disclosure Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the DOJ to release once-confidential records from the Epstein case. Recently, a Florida judge granted a comparable petition to unseal records from an earlier federal probe into Epstein from the early 2000s. A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending. Breadth of Disclosure Significantly Enlarged The Justice Department has stated that Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the Transparency Act. The latest request vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of evidence gathered during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation. These documents are reported to include items such as: Court-issued warrants Banking documents Notes from victim interviews Data from digital devices Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida Case Background Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was found dead in a federal jail cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of related charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. The government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to safeguard victim anonymity and stop the sharing of sensitive 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, official releases, and Freedom of Information Act requests. Much of the material the Justice Department now plans to release stems from reports, photographs, videos gathered by police in Florida and the federal prosecutor's office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the mid-2000s. That federal probe concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He served over a year in a work-release program.