Federal grand jury material from the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell must be released to the public, a New York judge ruled on 11 August, rejecting every objection Maxwell raised to keeping it sealed.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska found that the Epstein Files Transparency Act overrides the secrecy orders that have covered the material since Maxwell's 2021 conviction, and that the statute establishes the compelling need federal courts require before grand jury material is opened.
Maxwell's filings against disclosure amounted to "a veritable kitchen sink of objections," Preska wrote, running through procedural, statutory and constitutional grounds, all of which she found meritless.
Release will carry the victim-protecting redactions the Act authorises.
What comes out
Grand jury subpoenas and material gathered by the government during the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein fall within the order, together with depositions taken from Maxwell in April and July 2016 in the civil defamation case Virginia Giuffre brought against her.
Prosecutors built two perjury counts in Maxwell's federal indictment on those 2016 depositions, charging her with lying under oath when she denied knowing about Epstein's recruitment and abuse of girls. The counts were later dismissed.
Records held by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which represented Giuffre, are covered by the ruling.
Giuffre died in April 2025. Her allegations against Prince Andrew, which he has denied, cost him his royal titles and, on 18 February 2026, brought his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office over the alleged sharing of confidential documents with Epstein.
The statute against Rule 6(e)
Grand jury secrecy in the federal system runs on Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which permits disclosure only in narrow circumstances and has historically defeated attempts to open Epstein-related material. Two federal judges refused Justice Department applications to unseal Epstein and Maxwell grand jury records in 2025 on exactly that ground.
Public Law 119-38 changed the calculation. Signed on 19 November 2025, it directs the Attorney General to publish all unclassified Justice Department records on Epstein and Maxwell, permits withholding only for victim identity, child sexual abuse material, active investigations, images of death or injury and classified national security material, and expressly bars withholding for embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity.
Preska's reading treats the Act as a congressional finding of public need that displaces the earlier secrecy orders rather than as a request the court may weigh against them.
Maxwell's position
Maxwell is serving 20 years, imposed in June 2022 after a jury convicted her in December 2021 on rape trafficking and conspiracy counts for recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein.
She was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum security federal prison camp in Texas in the summer of 2025, after two days of interviews with Todd Blanche, then Deputy Attorney General and now Attorney General. A Bureau of Prisons whistleblower has since given House Judiciary Democrats evidence of preferential treatment at the camp.
Maxwell filed an application for commutation with the Trump administration in November 2025. Her Supreme Court appeal was rejected in 2025.
Appearing under subpoena at a House Oversight Committee deposition on 9 February 2026, Maxwell invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer. Her lawyer David Oscar Markus said afterwards: "Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump."
Her legal team has said she could explain why Trump and Bill Clinton are innocent of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The Senate vote
The Senate adopted a resolution opposing any pardon or commutation for Maxwell on 29 July 2026, by unanimous consent, with no senator objecting. Senator Jacky Rosen brought it.
"Sexual predators should not be afforded preferential treatment," Senator Jack Reed said of the administration's handling of Maxwell.
Unanimous consent means no Republican senator objected, six days before the Judiciary Committee advanced Blanche's nomination on 4 August and 10 days before he won a floor vote 50 to 49.
Senate resolutions of this kind carry no legal force. Presidential clemency is not reviewable by the courts, and Trump could commute Maxwell's sentence at any point, including after the grand jury material becomes public.
