The Justice Department’s rushed effort to unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury transcripts is opening it up to accusations that prosecutors are once again violating a federal law protecting victims — potentially repeating the same mistakes made during convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal 18 years ago.
This issue is now surfacing in New York federal court. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman, who’s considering the DOJ’s unusual request, has given prosecutors until Friday to clarify whether they’ve given sufficient consideration to Epstein’s many victims — something their lawyers argue has not happened.
Federal prosecutors in South Florida kept Epstein’s victims in the dark when they struck a deal with him that allowed him to get away with a comfortably short detention, in which the wealthy financier spent time on “work release” by creating his own job.