This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)2025-12-10T14:58:28Z NEW YORK (AP) Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epsteins 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday, joining two other judges in granting the Justice Departments requests to unseal material from investigations into the late financiers sexual abuse.U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman reversed his earlier decision to keep the material under wraps, citing a new law that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. The judge previously cautioned that the 70 or so pages of grand jury materials slated for release are hardly revelatory.On Tuesday, a different Manhattan federal judge ordered the release of records from Maxwells 2021 sex trafficking case. Last week, a judge in Florida approved the unsealing of transcripts from an abandoned Epstein federal grand jury investigation in the 2000s. The Justice Department asked the judges to lift secrecy orders after the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, created a narrow exception to rules that normally keep grand jury proceedings confidential. The law requires that the Justice Department disclose Epstein-related records to the public by Dec. 19. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Questions about the governments Epstein files have dominated the first year of Trumps second term, with pressure on the Republican intensifying after he reneged on a campaign promise to release the files. His administration released some material, most of it already public, disappointing critics and some allies. Epstein, a millionaire money manager known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite, killed himself in jail a month after his 2019 arrest. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 by a federal jury of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of Epsteins underage victims and participating in some of the abuse. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. In court filings, the Justice Department informed Berman that the only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.The agent testified over two days, on June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow and a call log. The July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those will also remain sealed, Berman ruled.___Follow the APs coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement, courts and prisons. He is based in New York. twitter mailto