NEW YORK — A judge overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case said Wednesday that two members of Congress lacked the legal right to intervene and press their demand for a court-appointed observer to ensure the government complies with a new law ordering release of its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
But the lawmakers are free to bring a civil lawsuit or work through the tools they have in Congress to improve oversight, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled.
U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., had co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act that was signed into law by President Trump in November. It required the public disclosure of files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Epstein, the late financier, and Maxwell, his longtime confidant.
Engelmayer largely agreed with the Justice Department’s insistence that he had no authority to grant the congressmen’s request to speed the release of that material. They had urged Engelmayer to name an independent monitor to ensure that the government immediately released the more than 2 million documents it has identified as investigative materials. Khanna and Massie said the slow disclosure of the documents violated the law and had caused “serious trauma to survivors.”
A month after the deadline had passed for the materials to be made public, only about 12,000 documents have been made public. The department has said the release of the files was delayed by redactions required to protect the identities of those who were abused.
Engelmayer said the questions raised by Khanna and Massie raised about whether the department was complying with the law were “undeniably important and timely.” But, he said, the way in which the members of Congress were trying to intervene was not permitted.
The judge, who inherited Maxwell’s case after the trial judge was appointed to an appeals court, ruled that has no authority to supervise the department’s compliance with the new law, and that Massie and Khanna have no standing, or legal right, to insinuate themselves into Maxwell’s case.
Engelmayer said he has received letters and emails from Epstein abuse survivors in support of the lawmakers’ request for appointment of a neutral overseer.
“These express concern that DOJ otherwise will not comply with the Act,” wrote the judge, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.
The department has been “paying ‘lip service’ to the victims” and “failing to treat us ‘with the solicitude’ we deserve,” survivors wrote, according to Engelmayer.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction. She recently petitioned the federal court for her release, maintaining that new information has emerged that warrants her release. A jury found that she had helped to recruit girls for Epstein to abuse over the past quarter-century and had also participated in some of the abuse.
Epstein died in a federal jail in New York in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.
Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press.
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