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The US Justice Department has made another attempt to obtain access to grand jury materials from the probe into the late financier, which ultimately led to his sex-trafficking charges in 2019.

Lawmakers' Move Prompts Renewed Court Initiative

The newly submitted motion, prepared by the federal prosecutor for the Manhattan district, states that Congress made it apparent when authorizing the release of probe records that these court records should be unsealed.

"The congressional action overrode existing law in a manner that permits the unsealing of the sealed testimony," explained the government lawyers.

Deadline Considerations

The filing requested the district court to proceed quickly in releasing the records, pointing to the one-month timeframe established after the bill was enacted last week.

Earlier Petition Encountered Rejection

However, this latest effort comes after a prior request from the previous administration was denied by the presiding judge, who pointed to a "substantial and convincing justification" for preserving the materials sealed.

In his summer decision, Berman observed that the limited documentation of sealed records and supporting materials, featuring a PowerPoint presentation, phone records, and written communications from victims and their legal representatives, are minimal compared to the government's extensive repository of Epstein-related documents.

"The authorities' 100,000 pages of investigative records overshadow the 70 odd pages," stated Berman in his decision, adding that the request appeared to be a "distraction" from releasing records already in the prosecution's control.

Nature of the Grand Jury Materials

The sealed records primarily consist of the statement of an federal investigator, who served as the lone witness in the federal jury hearings and reportedly had "little firsthand information of the case details" with testimony that was "primarily secondhand."

Protection Issues

The presiding judge pointed to the "conceivable risks to survivors' security and privacy" as the persuasive factor for preserving the materials confidential.

Parallel Legal Matter

A similar request to release grand jury testimony concerning the criminal proceedings of his associate was also turned down, with the magistrate noting that the prosecution's motion incorrectly indicated the confidential documents contained an "untapped mine lode of undisclosed information" about the investigation.

Ongoing Events

The latest petition comes following closely the appointment of a recently assigned lawyer to probe the financier's connections with prominent Democrats and a few months after the dismissal of one of the main lawyers working on the proceedings.

When asked about how the ongoing investigation might influence the disclosure of case materials in government possession, the chief law enforcement officer stated: "We cannot comment on that because it is now a ongoing inquiry in the southern district."