A federal judge in New York on Monday denied the Justice Department’s effort to unseal grand-jury records that led to the sex-trafficking indictment of Ghislaine Maxwell, ruling that public disclosure would add “next to nothing new” and would erode longstanding secrecy protections. In a 31-page decision, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said the department’s 18-July motion failed to satisfy any exception in Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and did not meet the limited “special circumstances” standard the Second Circuit has applied in rare historical cases. The judge noted that the two grand juries convened in 2020 and 2021 heard only summary testimony from law-enforcement agents and saw exhibits that are already part of the public trial record. Engelmayer wrote that the materials do not identify additional clients, venues or methods related to Jeffrey Epstein’s network and that releasing them “would risk unraveling the foundations of secrecy upon which the grand jury is premised.” Victims were notified of the request only after the court intervened; several supported broader transparency but opposed disclosures that might compromise privacy. Maxwell, 63, was convicted in December 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to traffic and abuse underage girls and is serving a 20-year sentence while appealing her conviction. The ruling leaves sealed the Southern District of New York grand-jury material even as lawmakers and advocacy groups continue to press for wider release of government files tied to the Epstein investigation.