Transcripts of the secret grand jury testimony that led to the sex trafficking indictment of Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell won’t be released, a judge decided on Monday.
Judge Paul A Engelmayer said in a written ruling that the government had suggested that the materials could be released publicly “casually or promiscuously”, which would risk “unravelling the foundations of secrecy upon which the grand jury is premised” and eroding confidence by persons called to testify before future grand juries.
“And it is no answer to argue that releasing the grand jury materials, because they are redundant of the evidence at Maxwell’s trial, would be innocuous. The same could be said for almost any grand jury testimony, by summary witnesses or others, given in support of charges that later proceeded to trial,” the judge added.
Federal prosecutors had asked to unseal the documents, in an effort to calm a whirlpool of suspicions about what the government knows about Epstein, a well-connected financier who died behind bars while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell, his socialite ex-girlfriend, was later convicted of helping him prey on underage girls.
It’s unclear how much the transcripts would have revealed since the Justice Department has acknowledged they contained no testimony from witnesses who were not members of law enforcement.
Prosecutors have said much of what was discussed behind the grand jury’s closed doors ultimately became public at Maxwell’s trial in 2021, in victims’ civil lawsuits or in public statements from victims and witnesses. The only grand jury witnesses were law enforcement officers.
The decision about the grand jury transcripts doesn’t affect thousands of other pages that the government possesses but has declined to release. The Justice Department has said much of the material was court-sealed to protect victims and little of it would have come out if Epstein had gone to trial.
Another federal judge still is weighing whether to release the transcripts from the grand jury testimony that led to Epstein’s indictment.
A federal judge in Florida declined to release grand jury documents from an investigation there in 2005 and 2007.
Some Epstein victims supported releasing the grand jury transcripts with some redactions. Other accusers said the debate over the material was causing them anguish.
Maxwell, who’s appealing her conviction, opposed unsealing the documents. Her lawyers said she hasn’t seen them but believed they were full of questionable statements that her defence had no opportunity to challenge.
Maxwell recently was interviewed by the Justice Department and was moved from a prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas. Her attorney says she testified truthfully.
The Epstein saga has again become a national flashpoint six years after authorities said the financier killed himself. The 66-year-old was facing federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14.
Epstein already had served jail time and registered as a sex offender after pleading guilty to Florida prostitution offenses in a 2008 deal that let him avoid federal charges at the time.
President Donald Trump later raised questions about Epstein’s death, and Trump allies stoked conspiracy theories that dark secrets were covered up to protect powerful people. Some of those allies got powerful positions in Trump’s Justice Department and promised to pull back the curtain on the Epstein investigation â but then announced this summer that nothing more would be released and that a long-rumoured Epstein “client list” doesn’t exist.
The about-face only amplified the clamour for transparency. After trying unsuccessfully to change the subject and denigrating his own supporters for not moving on, the president told Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask courts to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed the Justice Department for files in the case. The committee also issued subpoenas to conduct sworn questioning of former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and eight former top law enforcement officials.
Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was one of Epstein’s many famous former friends. So was Trump, a Republican. Both men have said they knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes until he was charged, and Epstein’s accusers have not alleged any wrongdoing by Trump or Clinton.
