US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in New York rejected on Monday a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to unseal grand jury materials from the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case.

The court took grand jury secrecy into great consideration, stating:

This factor weighs heavily against unsealing. Granting the Government’s motion would bloat the “special circumstances” doctrine, which to date has warranted disclosure in only a tiny number of cases, all involving unique testimony by firsthand witnesses to events of obvious public or historical moment. And it is no answer to argue that releasing the grand jury materials, because they are redundant of the evidence at Maxwell’s trial, would be innocuous. The same could be said for almost any grand jury testimony, by summary witnesses or others, given in support of charges that later proceeded to trial.

The court also took other factors into consideration. Many victims supported the unsealing based on the belief that the materials contained new, significant information. However, the court disagreed, finding that the records are redundant of the evidence that was presented at Maxwell’s trial. The court found that the requested materials contained no new revelations about Epstein, Maxwell, their associates, or investigative methods.

Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 of five felonies for sexually abusing minors with Jeffrey Epstein (Epstein) between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and is currently appealing her sentence.

In July, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that the grand jury materials in the Maxwell and Epstein cases be unsealed, citing “special circumstances” and public interest. This comes after the release of the July 6, 2025, memorandum on the Epstein investigation. The government claimed the materials were of significant historical or public interest under Rule 6(e) and the Second Circuit’s “special circumstances” doctrine.