US judge orders unsealing of grand jury records from abandoned case

A US judge has ordered the unsealing of grand jury transcripts from the 2005 and 2007 investigation into convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The Florida judge granted the justice department’s request for the material following Congress’ passage last month of a bill ordering the release of all files on the disgraced financier.

The law “applies to unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” that relate to Epstein and his accomplice-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, the court order said.

A similar justice department request was rejected in August because it violated a federal rule on grand jury materials, which the newly signed law overrides.

US District Judge Rodney Smith granted the government’s expedited motion to unseal the grand jury transcripts and modify a protective order that previously barred the release of the materials.

In Friday’s order, reviewed by the BBC, Judge Smith noted “the later-enacted and specific language of the Act trumps prohibition on disclosure”.

The justice department is also requesting the unsealing of documents in New York from Epstein’s 2019 sex-trafficking case and Maxwell’s 2021 sex-trafficking case.