Judge Denies DOJ Bid to Unseal Epstein Records

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s bid to unseal grand jury materials used to charge disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking, instead saying the government is the “logical party” to make any sweeping disclosures.

The Trump administration sought to make public the secret grand jury proceedings as pressure from the president’s political base mounted to increase transparency about the case, which has long captured the public imagination.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ruled that there is “clear precedent and sound purpose” for keeping grand jury records under seal, saying the government failed to show the Epstein papers demonstrate any “special circumstance” justifying their release.

He also noted that the government is already in possession of vast details about the case.

“The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote in a 14-page ruling.

Berman said the fact the administration has already undertaken a comprehensive investigation into Epstein’s case and assembled a “trove” of documents, interviews and exhibits is a “significant and compelling reason” to reject its request. Those records “dwarf” the “70 odd pages” of grand jury materials, he said.

“The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files,” the judge wrote. “By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government’s possession.”

The Epstein case burst back into public discourse after the Justice Department last month issued a joint memo stating Epstein did not have an incriminating “client list” and confirming his 2019 death was a suicide, enraging MAGA influencers who have for years claimed that the government was concealing the truth.

As frustration grew, top Justice Department officials moved to unseal the grand jury materials with redactions to protect victim confidentiality. The government cited abundant public interest in the case as reason to make the documents public, despite the usual secrecy of grand jury proceedings.

In letters to the court following the government’s request, several victims and their lawyers said they weren’t adequately considered in the government’s push to make the papers public, questioning the administration’s motives.

“I am not sure the highest priority here is the victims, justice for the victims or combatting child exploitation, or at least I do not feel this way,” one of the anonymous victims wrote.

Berman said that the government failed to provide the victims with sufficient notice before filing their motions to unseal the grand jury material, calling possible threats to their safety and privacy “another compelling reason not to unseal” the documents.

The ruling comes after another federal judge last week refused the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime accomplice.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote in that ruling that the Maxwell grand jury testimony is “far from” a matter of significant historical or public interest.

“It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents,” Engelmayer wrote. “And the information it contains is already almost entirely a matter of longstanding public record.”

Maxwell opposed the unsealing, while representatives for Epstein’s estate did not take a position on the matter.

A third judge, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg, denied the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from a different Epstein probe last month, writing that “the Court’s hands are tied — a point that the government concedes.”