A federal judge in New York has ordered the DOJ to unseal grand jury materials and investigative records from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex-trafficking case.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman issued the four-page ruling Wednesday, becoming the third federal judge in a week to grant similar DOJ requests following passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month. The law requires the department to publicly release materials related to past federal investigations of Epstein and his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Berman said the statute’s language leaves little room for interpretation, calling it “clear” and emphasizing that Congress intended to override traditional grand jury secrecy. “The Court hereby grants the Government’s motion in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and with the unequivocal right of Epstein victims to have their identity and privacy protected,” he wrote. He also noted that attorneys for survivors stressed that disclosure “CANNOT come at the expense of the privacy, safety, and protection of sexual abuse and sex trafficking victims.”
The ruling follows similar decisions issued Tuesday by Judge Paul Engelmayer, who approved the release of a “voluminous” set of Maxwell grand jury materials in New York, and last week by Judge Rodney Smith in Florida, who authorized unsealing records from the mid-2000s federal probes into Epstein. All three judges required the redaction of victims’ identifying information and sensitive personal details.
Berman had previously rejected the DOJ’s request in August—before the law existed—arguing that the department had not met the legal threshold for unsealing grand jury testimony and already possessed a substantial investigative record. At the time, he pointed out that “the Government’s 100,000 pages of Epstein files and materials dwarf the 70 odd pages of Epstein grand jury materials,” and cited possible risks to victims’ privacy.
But he said Wednesday that the new statute resolves those concerns, referencing a 2004 precedent holding that when a law’s text is unambiguous, courts must follow it. The act requires that records be made public “not later than 30 days” after its Nov. 19 enactment, setting a Dec. 19 deadline for disclosure.
The renewed push to release the files gained bipartisan momentum in Congress after years of controversy over how federal authorities handled Epstein’s earlier cases. The political debate intensified this summer as the administration faced internal divisions over the issue. In July, the president criticized supporters pressing for release of the documents, calling them “weaklings,” before later urging Republicans to back the bill once its passage became certain.
The Justice Department has not announced when the newly unsealed materials will be made available. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, a death that has fueled persistent conspiracy theories and renewed scrutiny of the handling of his case.
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