Judge releases transcripts of 2006 grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Florida judge on Monday afternoon released the transcripts of a 2006 grand jury investigation into sex trafficking and rape allegations against the late millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The judge’s release of the roughly 150 pages came as a surprise, as he had scheduled a hearing for next week to clarify when and how the pages would be released. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law in February allowing the release on Monday or at any later date if District Judge Luis Delgado ordered it.

“The details in the file will outrage decent people,” Delgado wrote in his order. “The grand jury’s testimony concerns activities ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape — the entire conduct involved is sexually deviant, repulsive and criminal.”

In 2008, following the grand jury investigation, Epstein made a deal with federal prosecutors in South Florida that allowed him to avoid more serious federal charges and instead plead guilty to state charges of procuring and soliciting prostitution of a person under 18. He was sentenced to one and a half years in the Palm Beach County Jail, followed by one year of house arrest. He was required to register as a sex offender.

That deal was widely criticized as too lenient. Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in 2018 in New York – where he also owned a mansion that was the scene of abuse – after the Miami Herald published a series of articles that brought renewed public attention to the case, including interviews with some of the victims who had filed civil suits against him. Epstein was 66 when he took his own life in a New York jail cell in August 2019, federal officials say.

In his verdict, Delgado described Epstein as “the most notorious pedophile in American history.”

“For nearly twenty years, the story of how Jeffrey Epstein victimized some of Palm Beach County’s most vulnerable has been the subject of great anger and, at times, tainted public perceptions of the criminal justice system,” Delgado wrote.

“Epstein is indeed notorious and nefarious, and it is widely reported that he has boasted about his wealth while socializing with politicians, billionaires and even the British royal family,” he continued. “It is understandable that, given these reports, the public is very curious about what has been widely described by news outlets as ‘special treatment’ in connection with his prosecution.”

The Associated Press is currently reviewing the transcripts.