A judge ruled Monday against releasing transcripts of the secret grand jury testimony that resulted in Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking charge.
The government had proposed that the materials could be made public “casually or promiscuously,” according to Judge Paul A. Engelmayer’s written ruling. This would run the risk of “unraveling the foundations of secrecy upon which the grand jury is premised” and undermining the trust of those called to testify before subsequent grand juries.
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He also added, “And it is no answer to argue that releasing the grand jury materials, because they are redundant of the evidence at Maxwell’s trial, would be innocuous.”
The court observed that although the government had found no significant material in the grand jury record that is not already public, the Justice Department had asked for public disclosure of the whole proceedings before the Maxwell grand jury, sans redactions to protect privacy.
The Justice Department, Maxwell’s lawyers, and the women who claimed that Maxwell and Epstein had abused them were contacted for response.
Brad Edwards, a Florida lawyer who has represented nearly two dozen Epstein accusers, said: “We do not disagree with the Court’s ruling. Our only concern was that if materials were released, then maximum protection for the victims was essential. The grand jury materials contain very little in the way of evidentiary value anyway.”
Federal prosecutors had asked to unseal the documents, in an effort to calm a whirlpool of suspicions about what the government knows about Epstein, a well-connected financier who died behind bars while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell, a socialite, was later convicted of helping him prey on underage girls.
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It’s unclear how much the transcripts would’ve revealed since the Justice Department has acknowledged they contained no testimony from witnesses who weren’t members of law enforcement.
Prosecutors have said much of what was discussed behind the grand jury’s closed doors ultimately became public at Maxwell’s 2021 trial, in victims’ civil lawsuits or in public statements from victims and witnesses. The only grand jury witnesses were law enforcement officers.
The decision about the grand jury transcripts doesn’t affect thousands of other pages the government possesses but has declined to release. The Justice Department has said much of the material was court-sealed to protect victims and little of it would’ve come out if Epstein had gone to trial.
Another federal judge is weighing whether to release the transcripts from the grand jury testimony that led to Epstein’s indictment.
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