Judge Will Not Unseal Grand Jury Papers in Epstein and Maxwell Cases

A federal judge on Monday denied the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from its investigation into Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sexually exploiting and abusing teenage girls.

Unsealing the transcripts would mean applying a “special circumstances” exception to the secrecy of grand juries, wrote the judge supervising Ms. Maxwell’s case, Paul A. Engelmayer.

Permitting such an exception “casually or promiscuously” would erode confidence in people called to testify before future grand juries, Judge Engelmayer wrote.

“This factor weighs heavily against unsealing,” the judge wrote in his order on Monday.

The ruling comes as President Trump tries to subdue criticism and conspiracy theories from his supporters about Mr. Epstein and his circle by pushing for the transcripts’ disclosure. Mr. Epstein’s death six years ago spurred improbable theories about him and his death, including that he was killed by Democrats in jail and that he was blackmailing rich and famous people.

Some of those theories were pushed by top aides to Mr. Trump before they entered government, and the fact that the administration has not disclosed shocking revelations has threatened to drive a wedge between him and a subset of his most fervent supporters. Monday’s denial is the most recent setback in his effort to quell the issue.

Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers had resisted the government’s request, writing that while Mr. Epstein is dead, “Ghislaine Maxwell is not.”

“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.”

Ms. Maxwell’s lawyer argued that she had been made into a scapegoat by federal prosecutors who could prosecute her only after Mr. Epstein’s death.

Mr. Epstein, a financier who moved in some of America’s most exclusive circles, was found dead in his cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial; his death was ruled a suicide.

Ms. Maxwell was arrested a year later and in December 2021 was found guilty of sex trafficking and other charges. Her conviction was affirmed on appeal. She has asked the Supreme Court to review her case.

Monday’s order came weeks after a federal judge in Florida denied a request by the government to release grand jury transcripts from an investigation into Mr. Epstein.

In the push to unseal the transcripts in both New York and Florida, government officials argued that there was significant public interest in the case. The Justice Department said the release of the materials would bolster the government’s claims that it had left no stone unturned.

The government argued that the release would be warranted because attention to the cases had “recently intensified” after the Justice Department announced last month that it had concluded its review of the investigation.

For months, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, had promised the release of material that could show damaging details of the investigation. But, in February, when Ms. Bondi released documents connected to the case, the release fell flat with Mr. Trump’s supporters and conservative media figures. The documents primarily had information that had already been in the public domain and did not reveal wrongdoing by people other than Mr. Epstein.

Last month, the Justice Department said that it had closed the case, without divulging groundbreaking information, prompting an instant backlash. The memo from the F.B.I. and the Justice Department indicated that there would be no more disclosures about Mr. Epstein.

Its review of files regarding Mr. Epstein had “revealed no incriminating ‘client list’” or credible evidence that “Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” the memo said.

The announcement merely fueled the backlash. In recent weeks, Todd Blanche, Ms. Bondi’s deputy, held two days of interviews with Ms. Maxwell in Florida, in an effort to quell criticism that the government is hiding information about Mr. Epstein.

The Justice Department had also said in a court filing that the people who had testified before the federal grand juries in New York were all members of law enforcement — no witnesses or victims had testified.

Last week, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its files related to the Epstein case.

In his order Monday, Judge Engelmayer noted the public interest argument, saying that he had given “careful consideration” to the rationale. However, he wrote, because the government has “conceded that the information it proposes to release is redundant of the public record,” there is no need to unseal the grand jury materials.

The push to unseal the records might be seen as an effort not “aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such,” he wrote.

“Contrary to the government’s depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest,” Judge Engelmayer wrote. “Far from it. It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents.”

Benjamin Weiser contributed reporting.