Judge says Justice Department can release records from Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case

NEW YORK (AP) — Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday, joining two other judges in approving Justice Department requests to unseal material from investigations into the late financier’s sexual assault.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman reversed his previous decision to keep the material secret, citing a new law that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. The judge previously warned that the 70 or so pages of grand jury material scheduled to be released are non-revelatory and “merely a hearsay snippet” of Epstein’s behavior.

On Tuesday, another federal judge in Manhattan ordered the release of records from Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case. Last week, a Florida judge agreed to release transcripts of an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein in the 2000s.

The Justice Department asked judges to lift the secrecy orders after the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, created a narrow exception to rules that typically keep grand jury proceedings secret. The law requires that the Justice Department release records related to Epstein to the public by December 19.

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

Lawyers for Epstein’s estate told Berman last week that the family has taken no position on the Justice Department’s request for disclosure.

Questions about Epstein’s government files dominated the first year of Trump’s second term, with pressure on the Republican intensifying after he reneged on his campaign promise to release the files. His administration released some material, much of it already public, disappointing critics and some allies.

Berman was matter-of-fact in his ruling Wednesday, writing that the transparency law “unequivocally aims to release grand jury materials and discovery materials about Epstein” that were previously covered by secrecy orders. The law “replaces secret grand jury materials,” he wrote.

The judge appealed to the Ministry of Justice to carefully follow the privacy provisions of the law to ensure that victims’ names and identifying information are deleted or withheld. He wrote that the victims’ safety and privacy were “of the utmost importance.”

In court filings, the Justice Department informed Berman that the only witness who testified before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, as the judge noted, “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.”

The agent testified over two days, on June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The remainder of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slide show and call history. The July 2 hearing ended with the grand jury voting to indict Epstein.

Epstein, a millionaire money manager known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite, killed himself in prison a month after his 2019 arrest. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 by a federal jury on sex trafficking charges for helping him recruit some of Epstein’s minor victims and participating in some of the abuse. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Maxwell’s attorney told the judge last week that releasing her case records could scupper her plans to file a writ petition, a legal filing seeking to overturn her conviction. The Supreme Court in October refused to hear Maxwell’s appeal.