DeSantis signs legislation to authorize the release of Jeffrey Epstein grand jury documents

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bipartisan bill into law authorizing the release of grand jury transcripts from an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.  

The new legislation, signed by the Florida governor on Thursday, will allow a public release of the jury’s transcripts from the 2006 probe into Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. The new measure goes into effect July 1. 

Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges and was sentenced to 18 months in jail after cutting a deal with federal prosecutors in 2008. He was also required to register as a sex offender. 

The law would shed more light on the grand jury testimony and would have limited exceptions to provide greater insight, according to DeSantis.  

“The public deserves to know who participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking,” DeSantis said in the news release Thursday. “Nobody should be protected from facing justice due to their wealth or status, and those who harm children should be exposed and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

Prosecutors in Florida brought one victim before the jury in Epstein’s case even with law enforcement saying the wealthy financier sexually abused several girls, according to Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown’s book “Perversion of Justice.”

The new law was already cited by the local judge, who denied the release of the jury’s record, according to The Associated Press. The Palm Beach Post filed the lawsuit to obtain records. Circuit Judge Luis Delgado, who denied the release citing the current statute, said he would consider the petition when the new legislation takes effect in July. 

A federal judge unsealed names of Epstein’s associates in January in a different lawsuit involving one of his accusers and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.