The U.S. Justice Department has once again requested the unsealing of grand jury transcripts from the sex trafficking cases involving Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The department argues that these transcripts should be made public under the newly enacted Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandates government disclosure of files related to the deceased financier and his associate.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, citing the transparency act signed into law by President Donald Trump, filed a request with Manhattan federal judges Richard Berman and Paul A. Engelmayer to reconsider their previous decisions to keep the materials sealed. The Justice Department, represented by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, views the transparency act as necessitating the publication of grand jury and discovery materials in this case.
The government’s filings indicate its commitment to complying with the transparency act’s requirements, which mandate the release of Epstein-related files in a searchable and downloadable format within 30 days of the law’s enactment, by December 19.
The Justice Department has urged Berman and Engelmayer to expedite rulings permitting the release of the grand jury materials, emphasizing that the new law supersedes existing court orders and policies that would typically prevent public disclosure. The department also suggested that any publicized materials could be redacted to safeguard victims’ personal information.
In response to the government’s request, Engelmayer has invited Maxwell, Epstein’s victims, and the government to provide their responses by December 3 and December 10, respectively, with a prompt ruling to follow thereafter.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act mandates the Justice Department, FBI, and federal prosecutors to release all unclassified documents and investigative materials related to Epstein’s long history of sexual abuse. Judge Berman, who presided over Epstein’s previous case, previously ruled against unsealing the grand jury transcripts, emphasizing the abundance of investigative materials already in the government’s possession.
Two other judges have also denied public access to materials from Epstein-related investigations, with the Justice Department noting that the only witness to testify before the grand jury was an FBI agent with limited direct knowledge of the case.
Epstein, arrested in July 2019 and found dead in his jail cell the following month in what authorities deemed a suicide, was at the center of a contentious legal battle over the transparency of the case. Judge Engelmayer, overseeing Maxwell’s 2021 trial, had previously expressed skepticism about the need for public release of the grand jury transcripts, questioning the true motives behind the government’s push for transparency.