đź”— Share this article Federal Judge Decides Justice Department May Make Public Ghislaine Maxwell Case Documents A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department can proceed with the public release 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 Justice Department asked the court in November to unseal grand jury transcripts and evidence from the cases of Epstein and Maxwell. This action could lead to the release of a vast number of hitherto sealed 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 window. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide pertaining to Epstein records in a digitally searchable form by December 19. Growing Trend of Unsealing Engelmayer is the latest jurist to allow the Justice Department to publicly disclose previously secret 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 2000s. A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case is still under consideration. Breadth of Disclosure Greatly Expanded The Justice Department has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this unsealing when it enacted the transparency act. The latest request vastly expanded the range of files slated for release to include eighteen distinct types of investigative materials during the wide-ranging probe. 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 wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges. He was found dead in a federal jail cell a month later, with his death ruled a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is currently serving a two-decade sentence. The government has indicated it is conferring with victims and their attorneys and will edit records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of sensitive imagery. Prior Releases Tens of thousands of pages of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell have previously been made public through various means, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests. Much of the evidence 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 2000s. That investigation concluded in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by entering a guilty plea to a state charge. He served 13 months in a work-release program.