
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday granted the Department of Justice’s request to unseal grand jury materials related to the case against convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell. The order from U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, comes after another federal judge in Florida granted a similar request to release grand jury materials stemming from investigations into her co-conspirator, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, from 2005 and 2007. Engelmayer said that the information being released “would not add to public knowledge” about others who may have been involved with Epstein and Maxwell’s sex crimes. “The materials do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor,” the order said. Both rulings cited a new law signed by Trump, which orders the Justice Department to release nearly all investigative materials related to Epstein. Engelmayer told the Manhattan U.S. Attorney to ensure victims’ information would not be made public. His order additionally pointed to multiple letters from victims of Maxwell and Epstein who had accused the federal government of not listening to victims as it relates to their fear of having identifying information revealed. “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.”























