One of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most vocal accusers is urging judges to grant the Justice Department’s request unseal to records from their federal sex trafficking cases, saying that “only transparency is likely to lead to justice.”.

A federal judge in New York says transcripts of the secret grand jury testimony that led to the sex trafficking indictment of Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell should not be released.

(CNN) - A federal judge in Florida handed down a loss Monday to Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, who have for years been trying to get payments and undo Epstein's 2007 plea deal in a sex trafficking case. The nonprosecution agreement between Epstein and federal prosecutors in Florida allowed the financier to plead guilty to prostitution, a lesser crime, instead of facing prosecution on sex trafficking charges. Epstein, 66, died in jail August 10 while he was waiting to be tried on federal charges of running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls, some as young as 14. Even though the victims did not receive the outcome they sought, they can "take solace" that the case brought national attention to the Crime Victim's Rights Act, the judge wrote. Alex Acosta resigned as US labor secretary in July as his role in negotiating Epstein's plea deal came under public fire.