The federal grand juries that indicted Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on sex-trafficking charges did not hear directly from any of the alleged victims in the case, Justice Department officials have said.
The claim came in support of the Justice Department’s request to unseal transcripts of the usually secret proceedings. Just two witnesses gave evidence to the panel and both were law enforcement officials, the officials said.
In a court filing late on Tuesday, the officials again urged the court to release the records, citing huge public interest, and sought to assure judges that making them public would not harm victims of the couple’s crimes.
While the memo did not detail what was in the grand jury evidence, it dampened expectations that the transcripts would contain new revelations, saying that “certain aspects and subject matters” contained in them became public during Maxwell’s trial in 2021 and that other details have been made public through many years of civil lawsuits filed by victims.
The Justice Department described the grand jury witnesses in response to questions from two judges who would have to approve the release of the transcripts.
Grand jury transcripts are rarely released by courts unless they need to be disclosed in connection with a judicial proceeding. The papers filed on Tuesday cite a 1997 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said judges have wide discretion and public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.
The Epstein grand jury heard from just one witness, an FBI agent, when it met in June and July 2019, the government disclosed. The Maxwell grand jury heard from the same FBI agent and a New York Police Department detective when it met in June and July 2020 and March 2021, according to the submission.
It is not unusual for law enforcement officials to be the only witnesses before grand juries, which have a limited role and do not need to decide whether a person is guilty of a crime.
The memorandum was signed by Jay Clayton, the interim US attorney for the Southern District of New York, and included the names of attorney general Pam Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche.
The request to unseal the transcripts came after the Justice Department enraged parts of President Donald Trump’s base of supporters when it announced in early July that it would not be making public any more investigative files related to Epstein, who was accused of paying under-age girls for sexual acts.
The decision not to make additional materials public shocked some Trump supporters because members of his administration had hyped the expected release and stoked conspiracies around the well-connected financier.
Epstein killed himself in a federal jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex-trafficking charges, but his case has generated attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, such as royals, presidents and billionaires, including Mr Trump.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 conviction for luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Last week, she sat for interviews with Justice Department officials in Florida, answering questions “about 100 different people”, her lawyer said.
Maxwell was being interviewed because of Mr Trump’s directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes, the deputy attorney general said.
Mr Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he had cut off their relationship long ago, but he faces ongoing questions about the case. When reporters last week pressed the Republican president about possibly pardoning Maxwell, he deflected, emphasising his administration’s successes.
After the request to unseal grand jury records, two former prosecutors in Manhattan told the Associated Press the transcripts would be relatively short and contain only the evidence of law enforcement witnesses talking about evidence that tracks information in the indictments.
The court memorandum filed on Tuesday said many of the victims whose accounts of being exploited by Epstein and Maxwell were discussed before the grand jury by the FBI agent and the NYPD detective later gave evidence at Maxwell’s public trial.
The government said no Epstein or Maxwell family members have come forward to express an interest in the request to unseal the grand jury transcripts, although Maxwell has indicated she will file a position with the court.
The memorandum says the request to unseal the transcripts is “consistent with increasing calls for additional disclosures in this matter”.
“There is undoubtedly a clearly expressed interest from the public in Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes,” it says. “Beyond that, there is abundant public interest in the investigative work conducted by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into those crimes.”
Under a 2008 non-prosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avoid a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release programme. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.
He was later charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations in 2019.
