A federal judge in Manhattan has rejected the Trump administration’s effort to unseal grand jury testimony from the late Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 federal case, calling the attempt a “diversion” from the government’s broader responsibility to release its full cache of Epstein-related materials.
Judge Richard Berman, in a 14-page ruling, said prosecutors had not demonstrated any “special circumstance” that would justify unsealing the transcripts. The records in question included 70 pages of testimony from two 2019 grand jury sessions, during which an FBI agent relayed information gathered from Epstein’s victims and associates. Because the case never went to trial, those transcripts were never made public.
This marks the third defeat for federal prosecutors in just a few weeks. Judges in Florida and New York previously rejected similar requests to release grand jury testimony tied to Epstein and his longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy, is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
In his order, Berman emphasized that the Department of Justice already possesses a massive “trove” of evidence, documents, and interviews compiled during its Epstein investigation. He pointed out that the government has pledged to share those files with the public, making them a more meaningful source of transparency than selective grand jury records.
“The instant grand jury motion appears to be a diversion from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the government’s possession,” Berman wrote, adding that full disclosure of those materials would “better inform the public” than the testimony of a single witness before a grand jury.
Berman also cited victim privacy concerns, stressing that Epstein’s accusers had not been given enough notice to weigh in on whether the records should be unsealed. He noted that exposing testimony could pose safety risks and retraumatize survivors of Epstein’s abuse.
The renewed legal wrangling comes amid heightened public interest following a July 6 DOJ-FBI memo concluding that Epstein committed suicide in 2019 and that no “client list” existed, contradicting years of speculation. Still, critics insist that only full disclosure of the government’s Epstein files — not piecemeal releases — will provide the clarity the public has long demanded.
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