A U.S. judge denied on Wednesday the Justice Department's bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted the late financier Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges, saying the material paled in comparison to the trove of records the government has about the case but is not releasing.

A federal judge said he would not unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein – rejecting the Justice Department’s request to make them public.