Judge unseals Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials

A New York federal judge on Tuesday He ordered the seal to be opened Grand jury materials and other documents related to the trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of facilitating the sexual abuse of underage girls by Jeffrey Epstein.

Judge Paul Engelmayer’s order came at the request of the court. Ministry of JusticeHe cited the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed last month.

The law requires the Justice Department to disclose investigative materials about President Donald Trump’s former friend Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his conviction.

Grand jury materials are normally permanently sealed by law.

That’s why Engelmayer denied the Justice Department’s initial request over the summer to seal grand jury materials in the Maxwell case.

In Tuesday’s order, the judge noted that the Epstein files “do not expressly refer to the grand jury materials under the Act.”

But Englemayer added: “The Court nevertheless agrees with the Department of Justice, arguing that the Act textually covers the grand jury materials in this case.”

Englemayer’s order authorizes the Justice Department to publicly release grand jury transcripts and exhibits, as well as extensive materials that federal prosecutors disclosed to defense attorneys for Maxwell’s 2021 criminal trial.

But it also amended a protective order to put in place a mechanism “to protect victims from the inadvertent release of material that would identify them or otherwise invade their privacy.”

It’s unclear when the Justice Department will release the material covered by Engelmayer’s order. CNBC requested comment from the Department of Justice.

It seems unlikely that the public will learn anything new about Epstein or Maxwell from the unsealed grand jury materials.

In his order Tuesday, Englemayer said the Justice Department’s initial request to unseal the files “misled victims and misled the public by portraying the Maxwell grand jury materials as vital to the goal of ‘transparency to the American public,’ when in reality the grand jury materials did not contribute to public knowledge.”

“The materials do not establish that any person other than Epstein and Maxwell engaged in sexual intercourse with a minor,” Englemayer wrote in August when rejecting the Justice Department’s initial offer to unseal the material.

“They do not discuss or identify any clients of Epstein or Maxwell. They do not reveal any hitherto unknown means or methods of Epstein or Maxwell’s crimes,” the judge wrote. “They do not disclose the new locations where the crimes were committed. They do not disclose the new sources of their wealth. They do not investigate the circumstances of Epstein’s death. They do not disclose the path for the government’s investigation.”

Despite granting the Justice Department’s request to unseal the materials, the judge slammed prosecutors for once again failing to notify Maxwell and Epstein’s victims before requesting that the materials be made public.

“In two rounds of petitions to this Court seeking disclosure of the records, the Department of Justice paid lip service to Maxwell and Epstein’s victims but failed to give them the attention they deserve,” Engelmayer wrote.

“The Department of Justice, which applied for permission to release the records under the Act on November 24, 2025, again acted without notice to Maxwell and Epstein’s victims,” the judge wrote.

“The Court … was once again forced to instruct the Ministry of Justice to immediately inform these victims of its latest motion and to set a deadline for victims’ statements.

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