A federal judge’s gavel echoed through a Florida courtroom, ordering the unsealing of Jeffrey Epstein’s long-buried 2019 grand jury transcripts—a seismic victory fueled by the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed just weeks earlier.h

On December 9, 2025, a federal courtroom fell silent as U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered the unsealing of Ghislaine Maxwell’s grand jury files, part of a cascade of rulings exposing Epstein-related records amid the Transparency Act’s December 19 deadline.

The decision, following Judge Rodney Smith’s December 5 order for Epstein’s 2005–2007 Florida transcripts and Judge Richard Berman’s December 10 ruling for Epstein’s 2019 case, overrides grand jury secrecy under the Act signed by President Trump on November 19. Engelmayer required DOJ certification of victim-privacy redactions, criticizing prior “lip service” to notifications.

The files, largely overlapping Maxwell’s 2021 trial evidence, include investigative notes and exhibits but are unlikely to reveal new perpetrators. Maxwell’s attorney argued prejudice to her habeas petition; the judge prioritized public interest.

Survivors hailed the rulings as vindication, amplified by Giuffre’s Nobody’s Girl (October 21, 2025). The DOJ faces scrutiny over delays, with critics alleging protection of elites like Trump, Clinton, and Gates from prior releases.

As disclosures loom, the courtroom’s silence echoed a reckoning: secrecy’s end, truth’s beginning.