Judge orders release of 'voluminous' records in Ghislaine Maxwell case
NEW YORK—A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the public release of potentially hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from the case against Ghislaine Maxwell, saying that access to the records is required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress approved last month.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer said the new law covers grand jury testimony as well as “voluminous” other records from the case, including evidence that was not used at Maxwell’s trial. Before the release, the Justice Department must redact information that could identify victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy sex offender whom Maxwell was convicted of assisting, the judge wrote.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in New York will have to determine what redactions are appropriate, Engelmayer ordered.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, “having led the successful investigation and prosecution of Maxwell, and having amassed the discovery in this case and furnished it to the defense, is best situated to identify, and properly redact or withhold, victim-related information” contained in the case file, Engelmayer wrote.
Clayton must “personally certify, in a sworn declaration filed on the docket of this case, that such records have been rigorously reviewed for compliance” with provisions of the new law that require protecting victims’ identities, Engelmayer wrote.
Justice Department officials have conferred with Epstein victims and their attorneys, asked for referrals to other victims and lawyers, and identified accusers who do not have representation, according to a letter from department officials filed in court late Monday night.
The department plans to redact details that could inadvertently identify women who have accused Epstein, but officials acknowledged in the filing that it was impossible “to eliminate entirely the risk” that people could piece together a victim’s identity by combining information from several sources.
Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented Epstein victims for about two decades, wrote in a Nov. 25 letter to Engelmayer that he had grave concerns about privacy after the House Oversight Committee last month released Justice Department records that contained victim information. The release caused immense stress for a number of victims, he said. One document named nearly 30 women who accused Epstein of abuse, according to Edwards.
“These women are not political pawns. They are mothers, wives, and daughters. These are women who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein, and in some instances by others, and who have already had their rights violated in the past by the government,” Edwards said in the letter.
Some victims, however, strongly urged Engelmayer to authorize the release of the files. Annie Farmer, an Epstein victim who testified against Maxwell and lobbied for the transparency law, told the judge she was concerned that a ruling against release “may be used by others as a pretext or excuse for continuing to withhold crucial information concerning Epstein’s crimes,” according to a Dec. 2 letter filed by her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley.
The Justice Department has also asked a federal judge in New York to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Epstein on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. That request is still pending. A third federal judge, in Miami, last week ordered the release of transcripts from the grand jury that investigated Epstein from 2005 to 2007.
Epstein died on Aug. 10, 2019, while in custody awaiting trial, a month after his indictment was unsealed. His death was ruled a suicide.
The grand jury proceedings in New York that led to Maxwell’s indictment were limited. The panel heard testimony from only two law enforcement witnesses at proceedings that lasted one day, according to court filings. By contrast, records compiled during the pretrial process known as discovery, which were provided to Maxwell’s defense team, amount to many thousands of pages.
In addition to removing information that might allow victims to be identified, the law allows the Justice Department to withhold information that might interfere with an existing investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi recently directed Clayton to investigate ties between Epstein and some prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton. It is unclear if any files will be withheld from the public because of that investigation.
Bondi assigned the case to Clayton apparently in response to a social media post from President Donald Trump. Trump called for an investigation into Epstein’s ties to Clinton, former treasury secretary Larry Summers and tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, who has been a major Democratic donor. He also declared a need to investigate JPMorgan Chase, where Epstein had business, and “many other people and institutions.”
Trump has often objected that his relationship with Epstein has received more public attention than Epstein’s ties to those figures.
Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet, and Epstein donated to the Clinton Foundation. The former president has said that he knew nothing about Epstein’s crimes.
In 2023, a judge approved a $290 million settlement by JPMorgan Chase to women who said Epstein abused them. Epstein was a client of the bank from 1998 to 2013, and the bank kept him on after his Florida arrest in 2006 on prostitution charges. Trish Wexler, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement last month that the bank regrets “any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”
Trump has said that he knew Epstein socially in Palm Beach, Florida, and that they had a falling out in the mid-2000s, which Trump has attributed to a real estate deal and to Epstein hiring employees away from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club. A White House spokeswoman recently said Epstein was ejected from the club for “for being a creep” to female workers there.
Trump has not been accused of participating in Epstein’s criminal conduct. Epstein wrote in an email on Feb. 1, 2019, that Trump “knew about the girls.”
“Trump knew of it. and came to my house many times during that period,” Epstein wrote in one message, adding that “he never got a massage.” The emails were among many that a House committee released last month.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor and was sentenced to 18 months incarceration. He was released from a local jail after about a year. In the years since, the deal has prompted outrage from victims and advocates who called the sentence too easy on Epstein and an injustice.
Maxwell, a longtime romantic partner to Epstein, was convicted in federal court in Manhattan in late 2021 for her role in trafficking girls. Prosecutors argued that Maxwell was Epstein’s top enabler, finding young, vulnerable victims.
The former socialite and business executive, who had social ties to many prominent men, has been a focal point in the latest push for transparency in matters related to Epstein and his associates. Maxwell has been blamed for facilitating sexual encounters between the late Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Giuffre, who was considered a victim in the case against Maxwell, died by suicide in April.
The allegations related to the former prince were not part of Maxwell’s criminal case. New York prosecutors attempted to interview Mountbatten-Windsor, who was recently stripped of his titles, but he declined. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied taking part in abuse.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche personally interviewed Maxwell earlier this year. She was transferred to a lower-security, more comfortable Federal Bureau of Prisons facility after the sessions with Blanche.
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