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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Friday that a judge lacks the authority to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the public release of documents in the sex trafficking probe of financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer was told in a letter signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton that he must reject a request made earlier this week by the congressional cosponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act to appoint a neutral expert.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, say they have \u201curgent and grave concerns\u201d about the slow release of only a small number of millions of documents that began last month.<\/p>\n
In a filing to the judge they said they believed \u201ccriminal violations have taken place\u201d in the release process.<\/p>\n
Clayton, though, said Khanna and Massie do not have standing with the court that would allow them to seek the \u201cextraordinary\u201d relief of the appointment of a special master and independent monitor.<\/p>\n
Engelmayer \u201clacks the authority\u201d to grant such a request, he said, particularly because the congressional representatives who made the request are not parties to the criminal case that led to Maxwell’s December 2021 sex trafficking conviction and subsequent 20-year prison sentence for recruiting girls and women for Epstein to abuse and aiding the abuse.<\/p>\n
Epstein died in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department expects to update the court \u201cagain shortly\u201d regarding its progress in turning over documents from the Epstein and Maxwell investigative files, Clayton said in the letter.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department has said the files\u2019 release was slowed by redactions required to protect the identities of abuse victims.<\/p>\n
In their letter, Khanna and Massie wrote that the Department of Justice\u2019s release of only 12,000 documents out of more than 2 million documents being reviewed was a \u201cflagrant violation\u201d of the law\u2019s release requirements and had caused \u201cserious trauma to survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,\u201d the congressmen said as they asked for the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure all documents and electronically stored information are immediately made public.<\/p>\n
They also recommended that a court-appointed monitor be given authority to prepare reports about the true nature and extent of the document production and whether improper redactions or conduct have taken place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n