Judge Denies Move to Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Transcripts

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 Monday. As the AP reports, 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 "unraveling 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," he 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. Maxwell recently was interviewed by the Justice Department and was moved from a prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas. Prosecutors have said much of what was discussed behind the grand jury's closed doors ultimately became public at Maxwell's 2021 trial in 2021, in victims' civil lawsuits or in public statements from victims and witnesses.

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. The decision about the grand jury transcripts doesn't affect thousands of other pages that the government has declined to release. The Justice Department has said much of the material was court-sealed to protect victims. Another federal judge still is weighing whether to release the grand jury transcripts that led to Epstein's indictment. Some Epstein victims supported releasing the grand jury transcripts with redactions. 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 defense had no opportunity to challenge.