A federal judge in Florida has approved the Justice Department’s motion to disclose grand jury transcripts related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as mandated by a new federal transparency statute.
Judge Rodney Smith ruled that the Epstein Files Transparency Act of 2025 takes precedence over the traditional confidentiality rules governing federal grand juries. This legislation, signed into law by President Donald Trump on November 19, obliges the Attorney General to publicly release all unclassified Department of Justice records associated with Epstein and Maxwell.
While the Justice Department is tasked with determining the timing and method of this release, the law stipulates that these documents must be published within a 30-day window.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell faced federal charges of sex trafficking, linked to Epstein’s long-standing exploitation of underage girls. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Judge Smith’s decision doesn’t immediately make the records available, but it does represent progress. Meanwhile, there are still pending requests to unseal records related to Epstein’s and Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases in New York.
The grand jury transcripts and other materials from Florida and New York were instrumental for prosecutors in forming the initial charges against Epstein and Maxwell. However, this set of documents is a small part of the extensive collection associated with the cases and may present a skewed or incomplete picture due to their one-sided nature.
A view of the compound on Epstein’s island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)
Federal judges in Florida and New York previously refused to release the material, saying it would violate grand jury rules, but passage of the transparency law has now changed that calculus in Florida.
As part of the earlier requests, judges said the contents that would be unsealed likely contained no new evidence.
