Jeffrey Epstein

Updated at 7:40 p.m. ET

Former federal prosecutors used "poor judgment" in crafting the 2008 nonprosecution deal for Jeffrey Epstein but didn't commit professional misconduct or break the law, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Updated at 4:27 p.m. ET

Ghislaine Maxwell's answers to questions about the sex-trafficking operation she allegedly ran with the late Jeffrey Epstein were made public Thursday as a federal court released Maxwell's 2016 deposition. The transcript is more than 400 pages long, but it has been redacted to protect the privacy of some people it mentions.

Updated at 12:45 p.m. ET

A federal court has cleared the path to unseal the transcript of Ghislaine Maxwell's deposition from 2016, a lengthy document that may shed light on the sex-trafficking operation she allegedly ran with the late Jeffrey Epstein that catered to rich and powerful men.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed a federal judge's ruling from July, saying the lower court was correct to reject "meritless arguments" from Maxwell, who is accused of procuring young girls for Epstein.

Updated at 2 p.m. ET

A federal judge has unsealed hundreds of pages of deposition transcripts and other documents related to a now-settled defamation suit brought against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of helping the late Jeffrey Epstein run a sex trafficking operation that catered to rich and powerful men.

The 47 documents include a deposition given by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the draft of a memoir she was writing about her experiences inside the sex-trafficking ring, and previously unseen email exchanges between Maxwell and Epstein.

Updated at 5:14 p.m. ET

A federal judge denied bail Tuesday for Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime confidant of disgraced financier and convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying she posed a "substantial" risk of flight before her trial on sexual exploitation charges.

The judge set a tentative trial date of July 12, 2021.

Updated at 2:35 p.m. ET

The FBI has arrested British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell on multiple charges related to the serial sexual abuse of girls and young women by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

"Maxwell was among Epstein's closest associates and helped him exploit girls who were as young as 14 years old," Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news conference Thursday.

Updated at 7:17 p.m. ET

President Trump has removed Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, from office, ending the tenure of a top Justice Department official whose office has overseen the prosecutions of several of the president's associates.

Attorney General William Barr announced the termination Saturday, less than a day after initially suggesting that Berman was resigning — only to be contradicted by Berman himself.

The intriguing tale began in mid-September with an invitation for two New York Times reporters to come to the Midtown Manhattan offices of the legendary lawyer David Boies for an off-the-record session.

The two reporters — Jake Bernstein and Emily Steel — were asked to leave their phones and laptops outside the conference room. No taping.

Surveillance video taken outside of the Manhattan jail cell of accused child-sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein during his first suicide attempt was permanently deleted, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The admission, revealed in a court filing, provides another embarrassing glimpse into the failures by staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center to adhere to protocol or keep accurate records on the troubled federal detention facility.

The request for the video was made by Epstein's former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, who is awaiting trial on four drug-related killings.

Battling criticism over his association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Britain's Prince Andrew said Wednesday that he is stepping away from his public duties "for the foreseeable future."

The announcement comes amid public scrutiny that has been building for months around the prince's ties to Epstein, who killed himself in a jail cell this summer.