Judge Oks Public Release Of Ghislaine Maxwell Documents

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Tuesday granted the Justice Department’s request to publicly unseal grand jury material from the Ghislaine Maxwell case, but ordered the Manhattan U.S. attorney to personally certify that the material doesn’t disclose victim information.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer’s ruling comes after a federal judge in Florida granted a similar request to unseal grand jury material related to Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking, and her onetime boyfriend, the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The government’s efforts to make public the grand jury information came in the wake of a new law requiring DOJ to disclose nearly all of the investigative records into Epstein held by the department.

Engelmayer, like the Florida judge, determined in a 24-page ruling that the new law supersedes the long-existing rules requiring grand jury records to remain secret. In the Maxwell case, however, Engelmayer also took into account several letters from victims who accused the government of not seeking input from the victims and said they fear the public records could disclose information that reveals their identities.

“The victims’ concerns, regrettably, have a basis in fact,” Engelmayer wrote. “DOJ, although paying lip service to Maxwell’s and Epstein’s victims, has not treated them with the solicitude they deserve.”

The judge ordered that before the grand jury material is released, Jay Clayton, the Manhattan U.S. attorney, must “personally certify” that it doesn’t reveal victim information. That measure, Engelmayer wrote, “assures that an identifiable official within DOJ takes ownership of the sensitive and vitally important process of reviewing discovery to be publicly released. It will help assure that victims’ statutory privacy rights are protected.”

A third federal judge overseeing the Epstein case is weighing an identical request to unseal those grand jury records.