US judge denies request to unseal records in Ghislaine Maxwell case

Government had hoped to get files released astir Jeffrey Epstein subordinate to quell furore that had grown implicit the case.

A United States justice has denied a petition by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to unseal transcripts from a expansive assemblage that indicted enactment offender Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned erstwhile woman and subordinate of deceased enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In a determination issued connected Monday, Judge Paul A Engelmayer said lawyers for the authorities failed to person the tribunal that bonzer circumstances warranted the merchandise of the expansive assemblage testimony, which is typically delivered privately and sealed.

“[The government’s] full premise – that the Maxwell expansive assemblage materials would bring to airy meaningful caller accusation astir Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, oregon the Government’s probe into them – is demonstrably false,” Engelmayer wrote successful his decision.

The DOJ successful June announced it would not merchandise immoderate further documents from the probe into Epstein, causing an uproar among President Donald Trump’s base, which holds a fig of conspiracy theories astir the well-connected enactment trafficker.

In an effort to quell the backlash, the DOJ astatine the bid of Trump past sought to unseal transcripts some from Maxwell’s expansive assemblage arsenic good arsenic Epstein’s.

In 2021, Maxwell was convicted of luring teenage girls to beryllium sexually abused by Epstein – a one-time friend to the almighty and influential in the US – and was sentenced to 20 years successful situation for her crimes.

Epstein died by termination successful a Manhattan jailhouse compartment successful 2019 arsenic helium awaited proceedings connected sex-trafficking charges.