A federal judge on Monday denied the Department of Justice’s request to unseal grand jury materials in Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case.
In his 31-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer says that the grand jury materials do not identify anyone other than Epstein or Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.
The DOJ request came as supporters of President Donald Trump have pushed for more disclosures related to Maxwell and her co-conspirator Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and accused sex trafficker.
Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi last month to release “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony” in the Epstein case.
In his order, Engelmayer said that the government’s reasoning for unsealing the Maxwell grand jury materials — that it came after “abundant public interest” — “fails at the threshold.”
“Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them—is demonstrably false,” he wrote.
Engelmayer said a member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial who reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposed to unseal “would thus learn next to nothing new.”
Engelmayer said the materials do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.
He continued by saying that the materials “do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s. They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes. They do not reveal new venues at which their crimes occurred. They do not reveal new sources of their wealth. They do not explore the circumstances of Epstein’s death. They do not reveal the path of the Government’s investigation.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
