Three U.S. judges have separately ruled that documents from investigations into convicted sex offenders Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein must be released.
Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for her part in the late Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
Last month, U.S. Congress voted to release the ‘Epstein files’, a series of documents from the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation.
‘Epstein Files’
The ‘Epstein files’ are a series of documents relating to Epstein’s sex trafficking charges.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, authorising the release of the files.
The DOJ and the U.S. House Oversight Committee have both released batches of documents relating to Epstein this year, which Democrats have said were largely already public.
Maxwell’s case
Maxwell was Epstein’s former partner and close friend.
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted of multiple sex trafficking charges related to her “facilitation of and participation in a scheme by the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse multiple minor girls”.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
This week, New York Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled that documents from Maxwell’s case should be released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Maxwell is named in the Act.
Engelmayer found the act applies to all “unclassified records... related to Maxwell”.
The records include grand jury transcripts.
Your contribution ensures The Daily Aus can continue doing the work you love.
I want to give $10 monthly to help TDA keep doing the news.
Your details:
A grand jury is part of some U.S. court cases. A group of citizens is chosen to determine if a case should become a trial. They hear both sides’ evidence in a closed court (no media allowed) before making a decision.
Other cases
Last week, the Associated Press reported that Florida Judge Rodney Smith ruled documents relating to an abandoned case investigating Epstein in the 2000s can be released.
This also includes grand jury records that were previously kept secret.
On Wednesday, New York Judge Richard Berman determined that records from Epstein’s 2019 grand jury trial must be unsealed.
Response
Democratic Oversight Committee member Robert Garcia called the decision “a victory for transparency in the Epstein investigation.”
Garcia said: “We must continue fighting to deliver justice for survivors.”
“Release the files, NOW,” he added.
What’s next?
The documents need to be redacted to removeinformation that could identify victims.
The Act states that documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell must be publicly available within 30 days of it being enacted on 19 November.
This means the files must be released by 19 December.
