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The Department of Justice (DoJ) is moving to unseal grand-jury records relating to the criminal cases against disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
According to a filing from Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, exhibits from the two cases must be “subject to appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information” before their release.
“As there are parties whose names appear in the grand jury exhibits but did not appear in the grand jury transcripts, the Government is undertaking to notify such parties to the extent their names appear in grand jury exhibits that were not publicly admitted at the Maxwell trial (and they were not already notified in connection with the request to unseal the grand jury transcripts),” Clayton wrote.
Clayton, with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, asked a Manhattan judge for the release of the documents to be delayed until after 14 August to ensure the parties mentioned in them are notified of their impending release.
On Monday, two Epstein victims slammed the DoJ for its handling of the case and accused it of looking to protect Epstein’s wealthy friends, rather than the victims.
“I am not sure the highest priority here is the victims, justice for the victims or combating child exploitation,” one letter submitted by a victim in Manhattan federal court stated.
“Rather, I feel like the DOJ’s and FBI’s priority is protecting the ‘third-party,’ the wealthy men by focusing on scrubbing their names off the files.”
President Trump has faced significant criticism, especially from the MAGA base, for his administration’s failure to provide full disclosure of the Epstein files, which was a campaign promise.
FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi have all faced criticism too for backtracking on previous promises and claims about the files.
At the beginning of the month, Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a low-security prison in Texas following a meeting with the Department of Justice. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein traffic and abuse underage girls.
Maxwell’s move from FIC Tallahassee to a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas came a week after she met with Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who questioned her about other people who may have been involved in Epstein’s crimes.
Trump has denied suggestions he might pardon Maxwell, who is currently seeking for the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
