Topline
Grand jury materials from Jeffrey Epstein’s New York criminal case, which led to his 2019 arrest, will soon be released, a federal judge ruled Wednesday—meaning all grand jury materials in Epstein-related prosecutions will shortly be made public, after other judges in Florida and New York already greenlighted documents coming out in other cases.
Protesters hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Federal courthouse on July 8, 2019 in New York City.
Getty Images
Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ordered grand jury materials from the federal government’s prosecution of Epstein to be unsealed, which include transcripts of the grand jury proceedings and some evidence shown to the grand jury as they decided whether to indict the financier.
While Berman had rejected a previous request to make the documents public, he changed his mind in light of the newly passed law requiring the federal government to release its files on Epstein by Dec. 19.
The federal law “supersedes” rules that typically keep grand jury materials secret and hidden from the public, Berman ruled Wednesday.
The materials will be made public with redactions to protect victims’ identities, and it’s unclear when exactly they’ll be released, though it will presumably be before the Dec. 19 deadline.
Berman’s ruling comes after other federal judges in Florida and New York had already ordered grand jury materials to be released in Epstein’s separate criminal investigation in Florida and associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case, respectively.
What To Watch For
All of the government’s documents on Epstein are required to be released by Dec. 19, but there’s so far little indication when specifically any files will come out.