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The secrets of the case involving Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell could come to light in a matter of days, following the authorization from a federal judge in New York to disclose previously unpublished materials from the legal proceedings.
According to the agency Associated Press (AP), Judge Paul A. Engelmayer granted the request from the U.S. Department of Justice to declassify records, transcripts, and evidence collected during the investigations into sex trafficking against the businessman and the British socialite.
The decision comes after the approval of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, recently signed by President Donald Trump, which mandates authorities to publish all documents related to the case in a digital format accessible to the public by December 19.
The ruling will allow the release of up to 18 categories of materials, including search warrants, financial records, interview notes from victims, electronic data, and documents from previous investigations in Florida.
According to AP, the Department of Justice plans to protect the identities of the victims and remove any sexually explicit content.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on charges of running a sex trafficking ring involving minors and was found dead in his federal cell a month later; his death was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell was sentenced in 2021 to 20 years in prison and transferred this year to a low-security facility in Texas.
With this decision, the U.S. justice system takes another step towards opening up information about one of the most controversial sexual abuse scandals of recent decades, involving political, business, and entertainment figures on an international scale.
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