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New revelations from the Department of Justice have confirmed that only two law enforcement witnesses testified before the grand juries investigating Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Some shit you should know before you read: Over the last few weeks, the DOJ has launched multiple efforts to unseal grand jury documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigations following intense bipartisan political backlash over the Trump administration’s handling of the cases. Voters from both parties have demanded greater transparency, criticizing the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein case and accusing the agency of shielding powerful individuals from scrutiny. In response to this pressure, the DOJ has petitioned federal courts to unseal transcripts from the grand jury proceedings that led to Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s indictments. Despite the DOJ’s push, a judge in Palm Beach recently ruled against unsealing related grand jury materials from Florida cases, citing that federal law does not compel such disclosures and that no legal exception applied.
What’s going on now: In new filings in federal court, the DOJ revealed that a detective with the NYPD, who was also serving as a Task Force Officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, was one of only two witnesses to testify before the grand jury that indicted Ghislaine Maxwell. The other witness, an FBI agent, also testified in the separate grand jury proceedings that led to Jeffrey Epstein’s indictment. The DOJ submitted these details as part of a memorandum filed in the Southern District of New York, where it is seeking to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
The government confirmed that no victims testified directly to either grand jury; instead, law enforcement officials summarized victim statements and investigative evidence (material the DOJ argues is largely consistent with what was later revealed at trial).
The DOJ’s filing was made in response to concerns from US District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who questioned whether the government had properly notified victims prior to moving to unseal the records. The department acknowledged it had not initially done so but has since provided notice to all but one of the victims referenced in the transcripts, and is actively trying to locate the remaining individual. The filing also notes that the government is identifying and notifying additional individuals named (not victims) in the documents.
