By Steve Neavling
A federal judge on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s bid to unseal grand jury records from the sex-trafficking case of Ghislaine Maxwell, saying the materials contain no meaningful new information and warning that the push for their release appeared political.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan wrote that the Justice Department’s claim the records would shed light on the case was “demonstrably false,” Reuters reports.
“A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion – aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such,” Engelmayer wrote.
The records, which came from testimony by two law enforcement agents, “do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor. They do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s. They do not reveal new sources of their wealth. They do not explore the circumstances of Epstein’s death,” the judge wrote.
Much of the material, he noted, was made public during Maxwell’s 2021 trial, which ended in her conviction and 20-year prison sentence. She was a longtime associate of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Engelmayer said there remains a “systemic interest” in preserving the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, which operate behind closed doors to protect ongoing investigations and the reputations of people who are not charged.
The Justice Department, the White House and Maxwell’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.
