Grand jury transcripts from abandoned Epstein investigation in Florida
can be released, judge rules
[December 06, 2025]
By MIKE SCHNEIDER and MICHAEL R. SISAK
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday gave the Justice
Department permission to release transcripts of a grand jury
investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of underage girls in Florida
— a case that ultimately ended without any federal charges being filed
against the millionaire sex offender.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said a recently passed federal law
ordering the release of records related to Epstein overrode the usual
rules about grand jury secrecy.
The law signed in November by President Donald Trump compels the Justice
Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release later this month the
vast troves of material they have amassed during investigations into
Epstein that date back at least two decades.
Friday’s court ruling dealt with the earliest known federal inquiry.
In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a mansion,
began interviewing teenage girls who told of being hired to give the
financier sexualized massages. The FBI later joined the investigation.
Federal prosecutors in Florida prepared an indictment in 2007, but
Epstein's lawyers attacked the credibility of his accusers publicly
while secretly negotiating a plea bargain that would let him avoid
serious jail time.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to relatively minor state charges of
soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18. He served most of his
18-month sentence in a work release program that let him spend his days
in his office.
The U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Alex Acosta, agreed not to
prosecute Epstein on federal charges — a decision that outraged
Epstein's accusers. After the Miami Herald reexamined the unusual plea
bargain in a series of stories in 2018, public outrage over Epstein's
light sentence led to Acosta's resignation as Trump's labor secretary.
A Justice Department report in 2020 found that Acosta exercised “poor
judgment” in handling the investigation, but it also said he did not
engage in professional misconduct.
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A different federal prosecutor, in New York, brought a sex
trafficking indictment against Epstein in 2019, mirroring some of
the same allegations involving underage girls that had been the
subject of the aborted investigation. Epstein killed himself while
awaiting trial. His longtime confidant and ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine
Maxwell, was then tried on similar charges, convicted and sentenced
in 2022 to 20 years in prison.
Transcripts of the grand jury proceedings from the aborted federal
case in Florida could shed more light on federal prosecutors’
decision not to go forward with it. Records related to state grand
jury proceedings have already been made public.
When the documents will be released is unknown. The Justice
Department asked the court to unseal them so they could be released
with other records required to be disclosed under the Epstein Files
Transparency Act. The Justice Department hasn’t set a timetable for
when it plans to start releasing information, but the law set a
deadline of Dec. 19.
The law also allows the Justice Department to withhold files that it
says could jeopardize an active federal investigation. Files can
also be withheld if they’re found to be classified or if they
pertain to national defense or foreign policy.
One of the federal prosecutors on the Florida case did not answer a
phone call Friday and the other declined to answer questions.
A judge had previously declined to release the grand jury records,
citing the usual rules about grand jury secrecy, but Smith said the
new federal law allowed public disclosure.
The Justice Department has separate requests pending for the release
of grand jury records related to the sex trafficking cases against
Epstein and Maxwell in New York. The judges in those matters have
said they plan to rule expeditiously.
___
Sisak reported from New York.
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