A federal judge has approved the release of grand jury materials from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted child sex offender and close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer’s Tuesday decision grants the Department of Justice’s request that grand jury transcripts, exhibits and investigative materials related to Maxwell’s case be unsealed.
Engelmayer had previously denied the DOJ’s request to unseal materials because the cited “extensive public interest,” he reasoned, did not override legal protective orders.
With the recent enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, however, the situation changed. Engelmayer said the act, which requires the U.S. attorney general to release all documents related to Epstein and Maxwell within 30 days, “implicitly reflects Congress’s intent to overcome grand jury secrecy.”
DOJ has promised to “withhold or redact segregable portions that contain personally identifiable and other victim-related information.”
The Tuesday ruling also requires that before any materials covered by the order are publicly released, “the United States Attorney for this District personally certify that such material has been rigorously reviewed for – and found to be in – compliance with Section 2(c)(1)(A) of the Act, which protects victims against revelations of their identities and invasions of their privacy.”
