Federal judge in Florida denies Justice Department request to unseal Epstein grand jury material

Washington — A federal judge in Florida has denied the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury material stemming from investigations in 2005 and 2007 into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Judge Robin Rosenberg, a federal judge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, wrote in an order on Wednesday that "the court's hands are tied," given precedents about grand jury secrecy established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which includes southern Florida. She noted that the government conceded that she was bound by the 11th Circuit's decisions. 

Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Justice Department lawyers asked several federal courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in cases involving Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime partner who is serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges. Epstein was convicted on state prostitution charges in 2008, and faced federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. He died in federal custody weeks later.