Federal judge orders unsealing of more Epstein files in New York

Washington — A federal judge in New York has granted a request from the Justice Department to unseal more files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In a brief four-page ruling on Wednesday, Judge Richard Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the unsealing of grand jury materials as well as investigative records, documents and communications from the Justice Department's 2019 investigation into Epstein.

Berman is the third federal judge in a week to grant similar requests from the Justice Department, weeks after President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which directs the department to disclose records related to past investigations into Epstein and his co-conspirator and friend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

On Tuesday, another federal judge in New York granted a request to unseal a "voluminous" set of grand jury transcripts and evidence from a sex trafficking case in New York against Maxwell. Last week, a federal judge in Florida granted the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury transcripts from federal investigations into Epstein in the state from 2005 and 2007. 

In July, the Justice Department moved to unseal grand jury materials in the Epstein and Maxwell investigations, but those initial bids were denied, because federal rules required grand jury proceedings and evidence to be kept secret.

However, after the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department argued that the law should override grand jury secrecy rules.

All of the judges' orders require the identities of Epstein's and Maxwell's victims to be redacted to protect their privacy.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act gives the Justice Department a Dec. 19 deadline to make certain evidentiary files public.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 after being charged with federal sex trafficking charges.