Judge Denies Trump Admin Bid To Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Testimony

Last Updated:August 11, 2025, 19:58 IST

The decision comes after Maxwell’s lawyers filed a request last week urging the court to deny the US Department of Justice’s bid to release the transcripts

Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas. (Photo via AFP)

A US federal judge on Monday denied a motion by the Trump administration to unseal grand jury testimony from the criminal case involving Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a report by ABC News.

District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York issued a 31-page opinion denying the motion, criticising the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for presenting what he called “demonstrably false" reasoning for the release of the documents.

“Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false," Judge Engelmayer wrote.

He further stated that the transcripts would “not reveal new information of any consequence" about Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes, according to Judge Engelmayer, who suggested that the Trump administration’s push to release documents might be an intentional “diversion.""

The decision comes after Maxwell’s lawyers filed a request last week urging the court to deny the US Department of Justice’s bid to release the transcripts.

“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not," her legal team argued. “Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain."

Maxwell, now 63, was convicted in 2021 on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Epstein died in 2019 while in custody in a New York jail, awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Trump’s supporters have been fixated on the Epstein case for years and have voiced outrage since the FBI and Justice Department said last month that Epstein had died by suicide in jail, did not blackmail any prominent individuals, and did not maintain a so-called “client list."

In a bid to calm the uproar, the Justice Department has been seeking the release of the grand jury transcripts from the cases against both Epstein and Maxwell.

US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who formerly served as Trump’s personal lawyer, also met recently with Maxwell, though details of their conversation have not been made public.

(With inputs from AFP)

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