NEW YORK — A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department’s effort to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits in the Jeffrey Epstein case, writing that the government itself is the “logical party” to make the Epstein files public and criticizing its motion as a “diversion” tactic.
“The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice,” U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote in a 14-page opinion.
Berman’s decision is the third by a federal judge to deny nearly identical motions by the Justice Department to make public certain grand jury material in the cases of Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and his onetime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/20/epstein-grand-jury-materials-ruling-00516558