A federal judge in Manhattan has rejected the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury records from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 indictment, calling the government’s move a “diversion” from its own refusal to release far more substantial files.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Clinton appointee, issued a 14-page order Wednesday denying the motion, writing that “the information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice.”
He noted that the DOJ is “the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein file” but instead had sought to open transcripts that contain little new information.
According to the order, no victims testified before the grand jury. The only witness was an FBI agent who “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.” The presentation also included “a PowerPoint slideshow” and “a call log,” both of which will remain sealed.
“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.
The ruling is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Justice Department, which in July angered Epstein victims, online activists and some of President Donald Trump’s own supporters when it announced it would not be releasing any additional records from the investigation. That announcement said a long-speculated “client list” did not exist, sparking further outrage among those who believed otherwise.
In response to the outcry, Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek court approval to unseal grand jury materials. Evidence before grand juries is typically kept secret unless a judge finds special circumstances, and multiple judges in recent weeks have concluded those circumstances are absent in Epstein-related cases.
Earlier this month, Judge Paul Engelmayer denied a similar request in the Ghislaine Maxwell case, saying “the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such.” Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence.
Last month, Judge Robin Rosenberg in Florida rejected efforts to release grand jury records from Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, which allowed him to serve only 13 months, much of it on work release.
Berman emphasized that the Justice Department already possesses a large trove of unreleased evidence, writing that the “complete information trove would better inform the public about the Epstein case.” He added that the grand jury records at issue were “merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”
Epstein, 66, was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges but was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell a month later. The Bureau of Prisons ruled it a suicide. His connections to powerful figures in politics, finance, and entertainment have fueled widespread speculation about who else may have been implicated in his crimes.
Berman also pointed out that victims were not given proper notice to weigh in on the unsealing effort. The limited transcripts, he said, could pose a privacy risk.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the ruling.
Last month, the DOJ notified a federal court that it is conducting an ongoing review of documents related to Epstein as part of a Freedom of Information Act case filed by Judicial Watch.
The department and Judicial Watch submitted a joint status report regarding the watchdog group’s lawsuit from April about a FOIA request made in February for records related to Epstein. Part of Judicial Watch’s request was for records “depicting the identities of clients or associates of Epstein.”
The watchdog group filed the lawsuit against both the DOJ and FBI after “they failed to adequately respond to three separate FOIA request.”