FILE - Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series Benefitting Wall Street Rising, with a Performance by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Joe …
A federal judge on Friday gave the Justice Department permission to release transcripts from a grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s case.
Judge Rodney Smith ruled that the Epstein Files Transparency Act of 2025 overrides the secrecy requirements of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e). The law requires the attorney general to make public all unclassified Justice Department records connected to Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell.
Dig deeper:
The law signed last month by President Donald Trump compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release later this month the vast troves of material they have amassed during investigations into Epstein.
The Justice Department had requested the unsealing of documents from three Epstein-related separate cases: the 2006-2007 Florida grand jury investigation into Epstein, his 2019 sex trafficking case in New York and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case, also in New York. The Florida request was approved Friday. The New York requests are pending, with the Justice Department facing a Monday deadline to make its final filing — a response to submissions by victims, Epstein’s estate and Maxwell’s lawyers. The judges in those matters have said they plan to rule expeditiously.
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When will the Epstein files be released?
NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to discuss what to expect next, now that President Trump has signed a bill calling for the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
When will the documents be released?
The Justice Department hasn’t set a timetable for when it plans to start releasing information, but the law set a deadline of Dec. 19.
Big picture view:
The law also allows the DOJ to withhold files that it says could jeopardize an active federal investigation. That’s also longstanding Justice Department policy.
Files can also be withheld if they’re found to be classified or if they pertain to national defense or foreign policy.
Who is Jeffrey Epstein?
The backstory:
Epstein was a millionaire money manager known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite who was accused of sexually abusing underage girls.
His relationships with powerful men, including Trump, former President Bill Clinton and the former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, have been the subject of endless fascination and speculation. Neither Trump nor Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing. Andrew has denied abusing anyone.
Police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. The FBI then joined the investigation, but Epstein made a secret deal with the U.S. attorney in Florida to avoid federal charges, enabling him to plead guilty in 2008 to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.
In 2019, during Trump’s first term, Manhattan federal prosecutors revived the case and charged Epstein with sex trafficking, alleging he sexually abused dozens of girls. He killed himself in jail a month after his arrest.
In 2021, a federal jury in Manhattan convicted Epstein’s longtime confidante and former girlfriend Maxwell of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press, FOX News and previous reporting by FOX Local. This story was reported from San Jose.