Watch: Virginia Giuffre’s Book on Prince Andrew and Epstein Now Available

In a significant legal development, a federal judge in Florida has mandated the publication of grand jury transcripts linked to the federal sex trafficking investigations of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Judge Rodney Smith of the U.S. District Court stated that a new federal statute supersedes existing regulations that typically prevent the disclosure of grand jury proceedings. This statute, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, was enacted last month with the approval of President Donald Trump. It requires the Justice Department, along with the FBI and federal prosecutors, to unveil extensive documentation collected during the probes into Epstein by December 19.

The Justice Department has sought to unseal documents from three separate investigations involving Epstein: the Florida grand jury proceedings from 2006-2007, his 2019 sex trafficking charges in New York, and the 2021 sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, also in New York. The request to release the Florida documents received approval on Friday.

The Justice Department has requested the unsealing of documents from three Epstein-related separate cases: the 2006-2007 Florida grand jury investigation into Epstein, his 2019 sex trafficking case in New York and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case, also in New York. The Florida request was approved Friday.

The New York requests are pending, with the Justice Department facing a Monday deadline to make its final filing — a response to submissions by victims, Epstein’s estate and Maxwell’s lawyers. The judges in those matters have said they plan to rule expeditiously.

One of the federal prosecutors on the Florida case did not answer a phone call Friday and the other declined to answer questions.