Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan denied the government's request to unseal Jeffrey Epstein's grand jury transcripts. A separate judge in the Ghislaine Maxwell case had already refused the same request. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls and young women. Epstein died in jail while awaiting trial. Berman found that no victims testified before the Epstein grand jury and that the only witness was an FBI agent who had no direct knowledge of case facts and whose testimony was mostly hearsay. The agent testified on June 18 and July 2, 2019. The grand jury presentation otherwise included a PowerPoint slideshow and a call log, both of which will remain sealed. The Justice Department declined to comment.
NEW YORK -- A federal judge in New York who presided over the sex trafficking case against the late financier Jeffrey Epstein has rejected the government's request to unseal grand jury transcripts. The ruling Wednesday by federal Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan came after the judge presiding over the case against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell also turned down the government's request.
According to Berman's ruling, no victims testified before the Epstein grand jury. The only witness, the judge wrote, was an FBI agent "who 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 and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 session and a call log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein.
Collection
[
|
...
]