Justice department can release Ghislaine Maxwell court materials, judge says

"The justice department can publicly release investigative materials from a sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge said on Tuesday. Judge Paul A Engelmayer ruled after the justice department 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 that could amount to hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents."

"The ruling, in the wake of the passage last month of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means the records could be made public within 10 days. The law requires the justice department to provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by 19 December. Engelmayer is the second judge to allow the justice department to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records."

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer authorized the justice department to publicly release investigative materials from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell. The justice department requested in November that New York judges unseal grand jury transcripts, exhibits, and investigative materials potentially numbering in the hundreds or thousands. The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the justice department to provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by December 19, with records potentially made public within ten days of the ruling. A Florida judge separately approved releasing transcripts from an abandoned grand jury probe, while a request for Epstein's 2019 case records remains pending.

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