A federal judge in New York has ruled that the US Department of Justice can publicly release grand jury records from Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case.
US District Judge Richard Berman's ruling reverses his previous decision to keep the material sealed. He cited a new law passed by Congress requiring the Justice Department to release files about Epstein.
In his latest ruling, Judge Berman stated that the victims have the right to have their identity and privacy protected, adding that their safety and privacy are paramount.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in a New York prison cell a month later while awaiting trial.
Judge Berman in August had denied the Justice Department's request because of concerns about possible threats to victims' safety and privacy. However, in Wednesday's ruling, he indicated that the materials could now be released due to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by US President Donald Trump last month.
The law requires the Justice Department to release investigative material related to Epstein by December 19, including unclassified records, documents, and communications. It also allows the department to withhold files that involve active criminal investigations or raise privacy concerns.
Judge Berman is the third federal judge to grant similar requests from the Justice Department since the new law was introduced. On Tuesday, another judge made a similar ruling in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for facilitating Epstein's abuse.
During her trial, prosecutors argued that Maxwell recruited and groomed girls, some as young as 14, between 1994 and 2004, before they were abused by Epstein. She is currently serving a 20-year sentence.
Last Friday, a judge in Florida granted a different request to unseal grand jury transcripts from another investigation into Epstein from 2005 and 2007.
The Trump administration has faced months of pressure regarding the Epstein files. Although the president had a friendship with Epstein, he has claimed they fell out in the early 2000s, before Epstein's first arrest.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he promised to make the files public, and earlier this year his administration released thousands of pages of documents from the Epstein investigation, primarily flight logs.
However, Justice Department officials in July stated in a memo that no further material would be released, triggering discontent from both political parties. This led lawmakers to introduce a resolution to compel the release of the files.
Trump, who initially dismissed calls to release the files, signed the bill into law in November, a significant shift in his stance. The family of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who died by suicide earlier this year, stated that Trump's signing of the bill was nothing short of monumental.
The documents due for release this month differ from those released by the House Oversight Committee, which had subpoenaed Epstein's estate earlier in the year.
Those documents included images of Epstein's US Virgin Islands home, showing several bedrooms and peculiar items, with multiple survivors alleging they were trafficked to and abused on the island known as Little St James, which Epstein purchased in 1998.
Democratic leader Robert Garcia stated that the material was released to ensure public transparency, while Republicans criticized the selective information shared in advance and subsequently released additional documents.
