Government efforts to unseal court records provide clues about what may be in Epstein’s files

NEW YORK (AP) — As the Justice Department prepares to release its files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, a court battle over sealed documents in Maxwell’s criminal case is offering clues about what might be in those files.

Government lawyers asked a judge on Wednesday to allow the release of a wide range of records from the Maxwell case, including search warrants, financial records, survivor interview notes, electronic device data and materials from previous Epstein investigations in Florida.

These records are subject to, among other things, confidentiality orders that the Justice Department wants to lift as it works to comply with a new law mandating the public release of investigative materials on Epstein and Maxwell.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump last week.

Read more: 3 Key Questions About the Epstein Files Now

The Justice Department made the list a day after U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in New York asked the government to determine what material it planned to release publicly from the Maxwell case.

The government said it was consulting with survivors and their lawyers, and that it would redact records to ensure the protection of survivors’ identities and prevent the publication of sexualized images.

“In summary, the government is in the process of identifying potentially vulnerable materials” that must be disclosed under the law, and “classifying them and processing them for review,” the ministry said.

The four-page document names Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton, along with District Attorney Pam Bondi and Deputy District Attorney Todd Blanche.

Also on Wednesday, a judge considering a similar request for materials from Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case gave the department until Monday to provide a detailed description of the records it wants to make public. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said he would review the material in private before making a decision.

In August, Berman and Engelmayer rejected the department’s requests to release grand jury transcripts and other materials from the Epstein and Maxwell cases, ruling that such disclosure would rarely, if ever, be permitted.

The department asked the justices this week to reconsider, arguing in court filings that the new law requires the government to “release grand jury and discovery materials” from cases. The law requires files related to Epstein to be published in a searchable format by December 19.

Watch the clip in the player above.

Epstein was a millionaire financial executive known for his socializing with celebrities, politicians, and other powerful men. He committed suicide in prison a month after his arrest in 2019. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking for enticing teenage girls to be sexually assaulted by Epstein. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Read more: A poll shows that most Americans want the Epstein files released

In initial filings this week, the Justice Department described the materials it wanted to disclose in general terms, calling them “grand jury transcripts and documents.” Engelmayer ordered the government to submit a letter describing the materials “in sufficient detail to meaningfully inform victims” of what it plans to release.

Engelmayer did not preside over Maxwell’s trial, but was assigned to the case after the trial judge, Alison J. Nathan, was promoted to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Tens of thousands of pages of records related to Epstein and Maxwell have already been made public over the years, including through civil lawsuits, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests.

In its filing on Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 18 categories of materials it seeks to unseal in the Maxwell case, including reports, photos, videos and other materials from police in Palm Beach, Florida, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office there, both of which investigated Epstein in the mid-2000s.

Last year, a Florida judge ordered the release of about 150 pages of transcripts from a state grand jury that investigated Epstein in 2006. Last week, citing the new law, the Justice Department moved to release transcripts from a federal grand jury that also investigated Epstein.

That investigation ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge. He spent 13 months in the prison’s work release program. A request to disclose the transcripts is pending.