A US judge granted the US Justice Department's move to unseal grand jury documents in the case involving Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in prison for sex trafficking, a court filing on Tuesday said.

US District Judge Paul Engelmayer cited a recent law passed by Congress in issuing his order and opinion, which he said also allowed the department to modify a related protective order issued in July 2020.

A PROTESTER calls for the release of the Epstein files, awaiting the imminent arrival of Trump administration officials, in Washington, Aug. 6.
A PROTESTER calls for the release of the Epstein files, awaiting the imminent arrival of Trump administration officials, in Washington, Aug. 6. (credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)

More Epstein records to be unsealed

The order followed a similar one from a judge in Florida on Friday that allowed for the unsealing of documents in a sex trafficking case against Epstein.

The Justice Department asked the judges to unseal the records after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a bill requiring the Attorney General to release all unclassified files related to its investigations of Epstein and his associate Maxwell, who is in prison for sex trafficking.