(Miami) A US federal judge on Friday ordered the lifting of judicial secrecy in the proceedings against sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein in Florida, where he was sentenced in 2008 to a prison term.
Published yesterday at
This unusual decision to publish testimony collected by a grand jury, whose confidentiality is normally very protected, is due to the adoption in November of a law intended to ensure the greatest transparency on the Epstein affair, the judge explained in his decision.
The law requires the Department of Justice to make public by December 19 all of the unclassified documents in its possession on Jeffrey Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence, and all people involved in the legal proceedings.
These include documents about the proceedings that led to his 2008 conviction in Florida to just over a year in prison for using underage prostitutes and soliciting or inciting solicitation, as well as his federal indictment in New York on more serious charges of sexual exploitation of minors.
Previous requests from the Department of Justice to lift secrecy on these documents had been rejected.
President Donald Trump, in a new attempt to put out the smoldering fire within his Maga base (“Make America Great Again”) on this issue, had expressly instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to request their publication.
The death of Jeffrey Epstein, found hanging in his cell in New York on August 10, 2019 before his trial for sex crimes, has fueled countless conspiracy theories that he was murdered to cover up a scandal involving high-profile figures.
Donald Trump, who for months promised his base shattering revelations on this issue, has suffered a backlash, including in his own camp, since his government announced in July that it had discovered no new element that would justify the publication of additional documents.
