Overview
- U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith granted the Justice Department’s motion to unseal transcripts from the 2005 and 2007 federal grand juries in West Palm Beach.
- The court found the Epstein Files Transparency Act supersedes Rule 6(e) secrecy and allows modification of protective orders to enable public disclosure.
- Separate DOJ bids to unseal grand jury materials in Epstein’s 2019 SDNY case and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 case remain pending under expedited schedules.
- Maxwell’s lawyer said she intends to file a pro se habeas petition and argued that releasing grand jury materials from her case would prejudice any potential retrial.
- The statute requires publication of unclassified DOJ, FBI and U.S. attorney records by Dec. 19 with narrow redactions for victim privacy and active investigations, leaving DOJ to manage timing and safeguards.