The order was issued Tuesday after the Justice Department in November asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits.
A federal judge in New York on Dec. 9 ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can unseal records in the case against Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, weeks after the passage of a law that required the government to disclose case records related to both Epstein and Maxwell.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ, in November, asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s cases, along with investigative materials.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, meaning that the records could be made public within roughly 10 days. The law requires the DOJ provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Dec. 19.
In the order, the judge wrote that the law “does not explicitly refer to grand jury materials,” but added that it “textually covers the grand jury materials in this case.”
“The Court thus finds that modification of the Protective Order is necessary to enable DOJ to carry out its legal obligations under the Act,” he added.
“The Act unambiguously applies to the discovery in this case,” Engelmayer stated, adding that “unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” are covered in relation to Maxwell, Epstein, and connected individuals.
The ruling was issued days after a federal judge in Florida granted the DOJ’s request to release transcripts from a grand jury investigation into Epstein in the 2000s.
Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the DOJ to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Last week, a judge in Florida granted the department’s request to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein in the 2000s.
The Florida judge also cited the recent passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, noting that it supersedes DOJ rules and procedures around the sealing of grand jury materials. In its request, the DOJ wanted documents in a 2006–2007 Florida grand jury sex trafficking investigation into Epstein in which he ultimately pleaded guilty on lesser charges.
The records that Engelmayer unsealed pertain to the case against Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in a sex trafficking scheme involving minors.
