Judge denies DOJ bid to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury records
A federal judge on Monday denied the Department of Justice’s request to unseal grand jury materials in Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case.
In his 31-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, a Barack Obama appointee, says that the grand jury materials do not identify anyone other than Epstein or Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.
The DOJ request came as supporters of President Donald Trump have pushed for more disclosures related to Maxwell and her co-conspirator Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and accused sex trafficker.
Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi last month to release “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony” in the Epstein case.
The judge noted that the government’s evidence included the testimony of women who were sexually abused as girls by Epstein and Maxwell, people who worked for Epstein and Maxwell, and law enforcement officials. Some of the evidence included photos and items collected from Epstein’s residences, flight logs and an address book.
Engelmayer argued that one factor in rejecting the unsealing of the transcripts is the “rule of secrecy” in grand juries.
In his order, Engelmayer said that the government’s reasoning for unsealing the Maxwell grand jury materials — that it came after “abundant public interest” — “fails at the threshold.”
“Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them—is demonstrably false,” he wrote.
Engelmayer said that the government’s submissions failed to prove its claim that the grand jury materials “contained undisclosed information of significant historical or public interest.” He said that “with only very minor exceptions,” the evidence from the Maxwell grand juries is “a matter of public record.”
Engelmayer even pointed to the Trump administration’s admission that much of the material “was made publicly available at [Maxwell’s] trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses.”
Thus, a member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial who reviewed the grand jury materials that the DOJ proposed to unseal “would thus learn next to nothing new,” the judge said.
He added, “Contrary to the Government’s depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest. Far from it. It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents.”
Engelmayer also said the materials do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.
He continued by saying that the materials “do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s. They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes. They do not reveal new venues at which their crimes occurred. They do not reveal new sources of their wealth. They do not explore the circumstances of Epstein’s death. They do not reveal the path of the Government’s investigation.”
