A federal judge in Manhattan is demanding more information from the Justice Department as he weighs its request to unseal records from the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time confidante Ghislaine Maxwell.
Judge Paul A Engelmayer ordered the Justice Department to tell him what materials it plans to publicly release that were subject to secrecy orders in the British socialite’s case.
The deadline: Noon on Wednesday (local time).
Engelmayer's order came after the Justice Department on Tuesday asked for his permission to release grand jury records, exhibits and discovery materials in the Maxwell case.
Engelmayer said government lawyers must file a letter on the case docket describing materials it wants to release “in sufficient detail to meaningfully inform victims” what it plans to make public.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 by a federal jury of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of Epstein’s underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Epstein, a millionaire money manager known for socialising with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite, killed himself in jail a month after his 2019 arrest.
Engelmayer had already notified victims and Maxwell that they can respond next month to Justice Department’s request to release materials before he decides whether to grant it.
The Justice Department said it was seeking the court's approval to release materials to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress and signed into law last week by President Donald Trump. It calls for the release of grand jury and discovery materials in the case.
The request, along with an identical one for grand jury transcripts from Epstein’s case, was among the first public indications that the Justice Department was trying to comply with the transparency act, which requires it to release Epstein-related files in a searchable format by December 19.
Engelmayer did not preside over the trial, but was assigned to the case after the trial judge, Alison J Nathan, was elevated to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Discovery materials subject to secrecy orders are likely to include victim interviews and other materials that previously would have been only viewed by lawyers or Maxwell prior to her trial.
Engelmayer said in an order on Monday that Maxwell and victims of Maxwell and Epstein can respond by December 3 to the government’s request to make materials public. The Government must respond to their filings by December 10. The judge said he will rule “promptly thereafter”.
Lawyers for the victims did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. A spokesperson for federal prosecutors declined to comment.
Judge Richard M Berman, who presided over the Epstein case before his death, issued an order on Friday allowing victims and Epstein's estate to respond to the Justice Department's unsealing request by December 3. He said the government can respond to any submissions by December 8.
Berman said he would make his “best efforts to resolve this motion promptly”.
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