Jeffrey Epstein

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman on Wednesday reversed his earlier ruling and cleared the Justice Department to unseal roughly 70 pages of grand‑jury transcripts from the 2019 Jeffrey Epstein probe, concluding the new Epstein Files Transparency Act changes the secrecy calculus while requiring redactions to protect victims and ongoing investigations. DOJ had sought an expedited ruling to meet the law’s Dec. 19 deadline and argued the transcripts—which Berman noted contain mostly hearsay from an FBI agent who testified in June–July 2019—should be produced; the decision comes alongside parallel unsealing orders in New York and Florida.

A Florida judge, Rodney Smith, ordered the unsealing of grand‑jury transcripts from the abandoned 2006–07 Jeffrey Epstein probe, finding the Epstein Files Transparency Act overrides grand‑jury secrecy and noting the law requires DOJ, FBI and federal prosecutors to release records by Dec. 19. Following that ruling, SDNY judges — including Richard Berman — have moved to unseal grand‑jury and investigative materials from Epstein’s 2019 federal case and voluminous Maxwell transcripts from 2021, set a near‑term deadline for the DOJ’s filings, and said they will rule quickly while redacting victims’ identities.