Second Circuit signals remand of Epstein FOIA case in light of new transparency act
Radar Online says the Justice Department has “stonewalled” any production of documents related to the federal investigation into convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in the mid-2000s that resulted in his controversial non-prosecution deal.
By Josh Russell, Courthouse News, Jan. 28, 2026
A New York City federal appeals court on Wednesday signaled it was likely to remand a FOIA case seeking documents from the FBI’s 2000s investigation into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein back to a lower court to consider how the bureau’s public disclosure obligations are now shaped by the Epstein Files Transparency Act and pending appeals from Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Tabloid website Radar Online sued the FBI in Manhattan federal court in 2017 — one year before the Miami Herald ran a bombshell exposé on the disgraced billionaire Epstein’s sex crimes — seeking production of documents from the federal investigation into Epstein’s underage sex trafficking operation, but the lower court sided with the Department of Justice in 2024, ruling on a second summary judgment that the FBI was right to decline the FOIA request for privacy concerns and issues related to the Maxwell case.
During oral arguments on Wednesday, Radar asked the appeals court to vacate the lower court’s “categorical, blanket” exemption from the disclosure obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and to remand the case back to the District Court judge to reconsider the FBI’s FOIA obligations and how that may align with the documents that are expected to be released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
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