🔗 Share this article Federal Judge Decides DOJ May Release Maxwell Court Documents A U.S. 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 close associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Court Order Clears the Path for Document Disclosure Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the decision after the Justice Department asked the court 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 judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent enactment of the Transparency Act, means these records could be released within a 10-day period. The legislation mandates the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December. Judicial Pattern of Unsealing Engelmayer is the latest jurist to permit the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret records from the Epstein case. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a similar request to unseal records from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the early 2000s. A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending. Scope of Release Significantly Enlarged The Justice Department has stated that Congress intended this unsealing when it enacted the transparency act. The most recent filing dramatically enlarged the range of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of investigative materials during the extensive probe. These materials are reported to include items such as: Search warrants Banking documents Notes from victim interviews Electronic device data 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 federal jail 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 consulting victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and stop the sharing of sensitive imagery. Previous Disclosures A significant number of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through various means, including civil cases, 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 Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which looked into Epstein in the 2000s. That investigation concluded in 2008 with a confidential deal that enabled Epstein to evade federal prosecution by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.