EXCLUSIVE: Epstein victims blindsided in grand jury fight, their lawyer says

The DOJ kept a top attorney for hundreds of Epstein survivors in the dark about plans to try to unseal grand jury minutes, All Rise News has learned.

Court exhibit: Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

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After the U.S. Department of Justice moved to unseal grand jury minutes in the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell investigations, two federal judges separately reminded prosecutors of their obligations to victims with identical language.

“The Government may not have notified the victims,” wrote U.S. District Judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer, who are presiding over the Epstein and Maxwell matters, respectively.

The judges’ suspicions were right.

Sigrid McCawley, who represents hundreds of Epstein survivors, told All Rise News that the government kept her clients in the dark about plans to ask judges to unseal Epstein and Maxwell’s grand jury records.

“It was the Epstein survivors who came together to work for justice in the indictment of both Epstein and Maxwell, yet the government failed to inform the survivors of their recent move to unseal the grand jury information,” McCawley, a managing partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, told All Rise News.

McCawley has represented some of Epstein’s most outspoken victims like Virginia Giuffre, as well as sisters Annie and Maria Farmer. Giuffre won a landmark settlement against Prince Andrew before she died by suicide in April. Annie Farmer testified against Ghislaine Maxwell, and her sister Maria Farmer complained to law enforcement about Epstein in 1996.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.