Federal judge orders Epstein grand jury documents unsealed as DOJ nears deadline to release files
Judge approves request to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts
- A federal judge in Florida has ordered the unsealing of grand jury materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as the Department of Justice faces a Dec. 19 deadline to publicly release the Epstein files in its possession.
- District Judge Rodney Smith reversed his earlier decision after President Donald Trump signed a measure approved by Congress compelling the DOJ to release investigative files.
- The materials covered in the ruling stem from 2005 and 2007 grand jury investigations into Epstein.
- The released files do not include documents shown to grand juries that considered indictments against Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
- Separate requests to unseal grand jury materials are underway in New York, where federal prosecutors brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, and another judge is mulling the release of grand jury documents in the case against Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.