A federal judge has given the green light for the release of grand jury transcripts related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein in Florida, a case that didn’t lead to federal charges against him.
Judge Rodney Smith stated that a new federal law, signed by President Trump in November, overrides grand jury secrecy rules in this instance. The law mandates the Justice Department, FBI, and federal prosecutors to release the large amount of material gathered during investigations into Epstein, going back at least 20 years.
This ruling concerns the earliest known federal inquiry into Epstein.
In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, started interviewing teenage girls who described being hired to give Epstein sexual massages. The FBI later joined the investigation.
Federal prosecutors prepared an indictment in 2007, but Epstein’s lawyers publicly attacked the accusers’ credibility while secretly negotiating a plea deal to avoid serious jail time.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to minor state charges of soliciting prostitution from someone under 18. He served most of his 18-month sentence in a work-release program.
The U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Alex Acosta, agreed not to prosecute Epstein on federal charges, which angered Epstein’s accusers. Following renewed media attention in 2018, the public outcry over Epstein’s lenient sentence led to Acosta’s resignation as President Trump’s labor secretary.
A Justice Department report in 2020 said that Acosta had “poor judgment” in handling the investigation but did not commit professional misconduct.
In 2019, a federal prosecutor in New York brought a sex trafficking indictment against Epstein, based on similar allegations involving underage girls. Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial. Ghislaine Maxwell, his associate, was convicted on similar charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.
The release of the grand jury transcripts from the Florida case could shed light on the decision not to proceed with federal charges. Records from state grand jury proceedings have already been made public.
The Justice Department has requested the release of grand jury records related to the sex trafficking cases against Epstein and Maxwell in New York.
