A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that grand jury records from the sex trafficking case of Ghislaine Maxwell - partner of late financier Jeffrey Epstein - will remain sealed, writing that their release would not answer lingering questions about the case despite the Justice Department's portrayal of them as matters of significant public interest.

A federal judge on Monday denied a request from the Trump administration to unseal grand jury material in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and is the longtime associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Engelmayer is the second judge to deny the administration's motions to unseal secret grand jury testimony related to Epstein and Maxwell. Last month, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg dismissed the DOJ's motion to unseal testimony from the first federal investigation of Epstein in Florida that began in the mid-2000s.