A New York federal judge ruled against a media outlet's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that sought the FBI's sex-trafficking investigation documents into the late sex offender and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, according to two reports.
Radar Online sued the FBI in 2017 to release the trove of records. However, U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe ruled Tuesday that releasing the documents could affect the appeal and possible retrial of Epstein’s former girlfriend and convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, according to Law360 and Knewz.com.
"This court concludes that [the FBI] provides sufficient details for the Court to trace a rational link between the information contained in the records and the potential interference with law enforcement proceedings, and the FBI has thus met its burden for withholding disclosure of the records," Gardephe said in his ruling.
An attorney for Radar Online said the FBI is using Maxwell's appeal and future litigation as means to cover up its missteps in investigating Epstein, arguing that the lawsuit for the docs began long before Maxwell was even convicted.
"The FBI is covering its tracks by using a hypothetical retrial of Ghislaine Maxwell as justification not to release its Epstein files," First Amendment attorney Dan Novack said in a statement, adding, the FBI insisted "these are simply the kinds of documents that would tend to cause harm if released, without engaging the reality on the ground that the target of the investigation has seen millions of records and was convicted in one of the most high-profile trials in U.S. history."
Novack is mulling an appeal.
Maxwell was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in December 2021 on five charges of recruiting and grooming four underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. She appealed the conviction in March.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, more than a month after being arrested and charged with sex trafficking.
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