🔗 Share this article Judge Decides Justice Department May Make Public Ghislaine Maxwell Case Materials A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department is authorized to carry out the disclosure of investigative materials from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein. Court Order Clears the Path for Records Release Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ formally requested in November to make public grand jury records and evidence from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This request could lead to the release of a vast number of previously unreleased documents. The court's ruling, which comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means these materials could be released within a 10-day period. The new law mandates the Justice Department to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by December 19. Judicial Pattern of Disclosure Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose once-confidential records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida approved 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 18 categories of investigative materials during the wide-ranging probe. These materials 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 Context of the Cases Jeffrey Epstein, a financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was found dead in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. The federal authorities has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery. Prior Releases A significant number of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through different channels, including civil cases, official releases, and FOIA requests. Much of the material the DOJ now intends to disclose stems from photos, videos, and reports collected by police in Palm Beach, Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which looked into Epstein in the mid-2000s. That federal probe ended in 2008 with a confidential deal that enabled Epstein to evade federal charges by entering a guilty plea to a state prostitution charge. He served 13 months in a work-release program.