On Monday, Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York entered an order denying the request by the Department of Justice to unseal grand jury materials related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Washington — A federal judge on Monday denied a request from the Trump administration to unseal grand jury material in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, saying there is nothing in the grand jury record that would shed new light on the case.
Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the Justice Department's bid to unveil the material in a 31-page order Monday morning. In court filings, Justice Department lawyers argued the circumstances of the Maxwell case warranted the release of the grand jury transcripts and exhibits, which typically remain secret. Engelmayer rejected that argument.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of minors. She has appealed that conviction, and a petition for writ of certiorari remains pending before the Supreme Court.
In July, the DOJ filed a motion to unseal the grand jury transcripts in Maxwell's case. Subsequently, Maxwell herself filed a motion seeking leave to access the grand jury transcripts in order to respond to the DOJ's motion, which Judge Engelmayer denied.
READ MORE: Federal Judges Rule on Efforts to Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Testimony
In Monday's ruling, Engelmayer denied the DOJ's request, explaining the rationale for his decision thusly:
A member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposes to unseal would thus learn next to nothing new. The materials do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor. They 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.
Insofar as the motion to unseal implies that the grand jury materials are an untapped mine lode of undisclosed information about Epstein or Maxwell or confederates, they definitively are not that. A “public official,” “lawmaker,” “pundit,” or “ordinary citizen” “deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,” Motion to Unseal at 3, and who reviewed these materials expecting, based on the Government’s representations, to learn new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes and the investigation into them, would come away feeling disappointed and misled. There is no “there” there.
RELATED: Ghislaine Maxwell Speaking to DOJ: Info About 'Over 100' People in Epstein's Circle
It's unclear at this point whether the DOJ will appeal the ruling(s) denying the unsealing of the transcripts. As noted in the article linked above, since the motions were filed, Maxwell has met and spoken directly with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. She was also subpoenaed to testify before the House Oversight Committee — originally for today, but that has since been postponed.
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