Judge releases Epstein grand jury records from criminal case in Florida

Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Joseph Abruzzo, who tried for three years to get permission to access and release the records, said the public and the victims have the right to know how the criminal case unfolded.

“We felt this was such an extraordinary case, and of such public interest, that we changed the law for this case,” Abruzzo said. “The public, and the victims specifically, want to know how he was able to get a slap on the wrist and go on for decades, continuing these heinous acts to hundreds, or more, underage girls or women.”

Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution and was sentenced to 18 months in jail in 2008. But he was given a lenient work-release deal, which allowed his chauffeur to take him to his West Palm Beach office every day, and eventually to his own home, while still officially in the custody of the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office.

Many of his victims said his powerful connections led the state attorney in Palm Beach County, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, to treat him with deference. Epstein was connected to powerful people across the world, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew.

Epstein had to register as a sex offender, but suffered no other legal consequences for years, despite lawsuits from multiple women who said he had abused them when they were minors.

After a Miami Herald investigation in 2018 revisited how the case was handled in Florida, Epstein was taken into custody in New York in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. He was accused of abusing dozens of girls at his Manhattan and Palm Beach homes and creating a network in which he paid his victims to bring him others.

On Aug. 10, 2019, guards found Epstein dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York. Investigators said he killed himself.

The next year, federal prosecutors charged his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell with sex crimes, saying she helped recruit girls, and also participated at times in the abuse that took place. She was convicted on several charges, including sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity. She began serving a 20-year prison sentence in 2022.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.