A federal judge in New York who presided over the sex trafficking case against the late financier Jeffrey Epstein has rejected the government's request to unseal grand jury transcripts.
The ruling Wednesday by federal Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan came after the judge presiding over the case against Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell also turned down the government's request. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls and young women.
According to Berman's ruling, no victims testified before the Epstein grand jury.Berman said the decision to reject the request was based on the fact that the sealed grand jury materials contain a limited amount of information compared to what the DOJ has in its investigation files, writing that "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." In addition, Berman stated that the only witness was an FBI agent "who had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay." The agent testified over two days, on June 18 and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 session and a call log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those will also remain sealed, Berman ruled.
The committee subpoenaed the Justice Department recently for all files related to Epstein -- who committed suicide in his jail cell in 2019; and Maxwell, who sat down for a two-day interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche weeks ago. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., announced on Monday that the Justice Department will begin turning over the documents on Friday, and that congressional lawmakers are set to receive the first set of Epstein files within the coming days.
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