Palm Beach County Clerk of Court Joseph Abruzzo, who spent three years trying to obtain permission to access and release the records, said the public and victims have a right to know how the criminal case is progressing.

“We felt this was such an extraordinary case and of such great public interest that we changed the law to address this case,” Abruzzo said. “The public, and especially the victims, want to know how he could go on for decades with a slap on the wrist and continue to commit these heinous acts against hundreds or more underage girls or women.”

Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008. However, he received a lenient release agreement that allowed his chauffeur to drive him daily to his West Palm Beach office and eventually to his own home while he was still officially in the custody of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

Many of his victims said his influential connections led to the district attorney in Palm Beach County and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami treating him with respect. Epstein had connections to powerful people around the world, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

Epstein was required to register as a sex offender, but faced no other legal consequences for years, even though several women accused him of abusing them when they were minors.

After a 2018 Miami Herald investigation reexamined the handling of the case in Florida, Epstein was taken into custody in New York in July 2019 on sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. He was accused of abusing dozens of girls in his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach and a network in which he paid his victims to bring him more.

On August 10, 2019, guards found Epstein dead in his cell at a federal prison in New York. Investigators said he committed suicide.

The next year, federal prosecutors filed charges his long-time partner Ghislaine Maxwell was charged with sex crimes. She said she helped recruit girls and was at times involved in the attacks. She was convicted of several charges, including sex trafficking, conspiracy and transporting a minor for illegal sexual activity. She began serving a 20-year prison sentence in 2022.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.