WASHINGTON >> A federal judge in Florida today approved the release of grand jury documents from a nearly 20-year-old investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, beginning the process of making public another batch of long-sought material about the deceased financier.

The investigative material from the Florida case is among the older information that law enforcement held about Epstein, dating to an investigation that was first opened in 2005 into allegations that he was abusing teenage girls. The inquiry ended in 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution, in a deal widely seen as overly lenient.

The ruling today came after Congress passed a law last month requiring the Justice Department to release all its files on the convicted sex offender by Dec. 19.

The pr

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