google.com, pub-6867310892380113, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 ** **
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New York judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell-related grand jury records
The ruling comes days after a federal judge in Florida also ordered the release of grand jury investigations into Jeffrey Epstein from 2005 and 2007.
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday granted a Justice Department request to release grand jury material related to Ghislaine Maxwell`s case. Judge Paul Engelmayer said in his ruling Tuesday that he`s taken great care to "put in place a mechanism to protect victims from the inadvertent release of materials within the discovery in this case that would identify them or otherwise invade their privacy." Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of federal sex trafficking charges. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Tuesday`s ruling comes days after a federal judge in Florida also ordered the release of grand jury investigations into Jeffrey Epstein from 2005 and 2007. Both rulings came after Congress passed a law last month ordering the Justice Department to release all of its records related to Epstein. Another judge has yet to rule in a separate request to unseal grand jury records in New York related to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. NBC News reached out to Maxwell`s attorney for comment. Last week, Maxwell`s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said in a filing that Maxwell "does not take a position" on the Justice Department`s request to unseal the material, but argued that releasing the material "would create undue prejudice" and prevent "the possibility of a fair retrial." The Justice Department filed the motion to unseal grand jury transcripts in July after Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi "to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval." In the opinion Tuesday, Engelmayer acknowledged that the Epstein and Maxwell victims who have penned letters to the court are "largely supportive of the Act`s command that DOJ`s investigative records" be made public. Still, according to the judge, they voiced concerns about their identities and privacy being compromised as records were released. Engelmayer added that "The victims` concerns, regrettably, have a basis in fact." He argued that the Justice Department paid "lip service" to the victims, but "has not treated them with the solicitude they deserve," pointing to the Justice Department filing the motion to unseal grand jury materials in July "without giving notice to Maxwell`s and Epstein`s victims." The judge said that the court would require a district attorney to "personally certify" that material is "rigorously reviewed" before it is released to ensure survivors` identities are protected. The judge referred to a Florida federal judge ruling against releasing the files before another judge reversed course, saying that the court`s initial denial noted that "the motion itself misled victims-and the public at large-in holding out the Maxwell grand jury materials as essential to the goal of ‘transparency to the American public,` when in fact the grand jury materials would not add to public knowledge."
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