"A federal judge on Friday gave the Justice Department permission to release transcripts of a grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of underage girls in Florida - a case that ultimately ended without any federal charges being filed against the millionaire sex offender. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said a recently passed federal law ordering the release of records related to Epstein overrode the usual rules about grand jury secrecy."
"The law signed in November by President Donald Trump compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release later this month the vast troves of material they have amassed during investigations into Epstein that date back at least two decades. Friday's court ruling dealt with the earliest known federal inquiry. In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a mansion, began interviewing teenage girls who told of being hired to give the financier sexualized massages."
"Federal prosecutors in Florida prepared an indictment in 2007, but Epstein's lawyers attacked the credibility of his accusers publicly while secretly negotiating a plea bargain that would let him avoid serious jail time. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to relatively minor state charges of soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18. He served most of his 18-month sentence in a work release program that let him spend his days in his office."
Federal grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein's Florida abuse investigation will be released after a judge ruled a new federal law overrides grand jury secrecy. The law, signed in November by President Donald Trump, requires the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to publish decades of material collected in Epstein probes. The ruling concerns the earliest known federal inquiry, originating in 2005 in Palm Beach, where teenage girls reported sexualized massages. Federal prosecutors prepared a 2007 indictment, but a secret plea deal produced a 2008 state conviction and a largely work-release sentence. Alex Acosta declined federal prosecution and later resigned amid public outrage; a 2020 Justice Department report found he exercised "poor judgment" but did not commit professional misconduct.
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