Justice Department can unseal Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case records, federal judge says

The Justice Department can publicly release investigative materials from a sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell , the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge said on Tuesday.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled after the Justice Department in November asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein's cases, along with investigative materials that could amount to hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents.

The ruling, in the wake of the passage last month of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means the records could be made public within 10 days. The law requires the Justice Department provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Dec. 19.

Last month, the Justice Department