(NewsNation) — A judge ruled the Justice Department can unseal materials from the sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell.
The move comes as the department faces a Dec. 19 deadline to unseal files related to billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after Congress passed a law requiring the materials to be made public.
Judge Paul A. Engelmeyer issued the ruling in response to a DOJ request to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits, along with investigative materials from the case. The ruling could lead to the unsealing of hundreds or thousands of documents.
This is the second ruling that allows previously sealed materials to be made public. A Florida judge recently ruled that records from an abandoned grand jury investigation into Epstein in the 2000s can be unsealed.
President Donald Trump pledged to release the Epstein files while campaigning, but later backtracked on that promise. As he faced public and Congressional pressure, the president referred to the files as a “Democrat hoax.”
The president has faced speculation that the files may contain damaging information on him due to his previous friendship with Epstein.
Many famous and powerful individuals, including Trump, have been named in previously released files, but someone’s name appearing in the files is not by itself an indication of wrongdoing. The materials also include the names of witnesses and individuals that Epstein associated with, who were not necessarily involved in any crimes.
In an interview with the DOJ, Maxwell said she had not seen Trump in any inappropriate settings. She was later transferred to a minimum security federal prison in Texas.
Victims have come forward to push for the release of files. In her posthumous memoir, Virginia Guiffre recounted details of her experiences, including an incident where she says then-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had sex with her while she was underage.
The increased scrutiny led to Mountbatten-Windsor being stripped of his royal titles and evicted from his royal residence by his brother, King Charles.
It is not clear when the DOJ will release the files.