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.
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.
“The Government’s invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the threshold,” Engelmayer wrote. “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.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
