Judge orders release of Jeffrey Epstein 2019 grand jury files

For the first time the public will hear what happened in the closed door sex trafficking proceedings against Jeffrey Epstein, including an FBI agent’s testimony, which occurred weeks before he died.

The grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case will be made public after a judge ruled he was compelled to release them following the law signed by US President Donald Trump to unseal all documents related to the convicted pedophile’s case.

Justice Department District Judge Richard M Berman made the ruling early Thursday AEDT to unseal around 70 pages of documents.

They include the testimony of an FBI agent on June 18 and July 2, 2019 as well as a PowerPoint presentation and a call log.

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted as an accomplice of US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: US District Court for the Southern District of New York

Epstein died by an apparent suicide while behind bars on August 10, 2019 awaiting trial after the jurors who viewed the soon-to-be unsealed materials voted to indict him.

In his decision, Judge Berman cautioned the FBI agent was a person who “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.”

However, the judge ruled he “unequivocally intends to make public Epstein grand jury materials and discovery materials” noting that the law signed by President Trump “supersedes the otherwise secret grand jury materials.”

“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,” Judge Berman wrote as part of a four page ruling.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s grand jury records will also be unsealed. Picture: Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Centre

Siding with lawyers representing victims of the disgraced financier, Judge Berman wrote the publication of the documents: “CANNOT come at the expense of the privacy, safety, and protection of sexual abuse and sex trafficking victims.”

The decision came after a New York City federal judge ordered the release of grand jury records tied to the criminal case of Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell – but warned that the material would not yield “new information of any consequence.”

Federal prosecutors must publish the records – including search warrants and grand jury testimony – because of the law President Donald Trump signed last month compelling the release of all Epstein-related documents by December 19, Judge Paul Engelmayer found.

But the judge cautioned that the new records would not reveal any bombshells to members of the public that followed Maxwell’s 2021 trial, where she was convicted of multiple sex crimes for helping Epstein abuse girls as young as 14.

The Maxwell grand jury records are only a fraction of the vast trove of material that the Justice Department and FBI collected during their investigations into Epstein.

The public is anxiously awaiting the release of the full Epstein files. Picture: US District Court for the Southern District of New York

A federal judge in Florida has separately ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking probes of Epstein and Maxwell in that state.

Maxwell, 63, is serving out a 20-year prison sentence on convictions related to sex-trafficking minors.

The Trump administration this summer transferred her to a cushy, low-security lockup in Texas without providing a public explanation.

This story was originally published in The New York Post.

Originally published as Judge orders release of Jeffrey Epstein 2019 grand jury files