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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 809 Filed 08/11/25 Page 17 of 31

Each grand jury received evidence on a single day. On that day, it heard testimony from one person: a law enforcement agent who, acting as a summary witness, testified to information obtained in the Government’s investigation to support the charges in the proposed indictment.
The agent, responding to tightly structured questions from an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”), provided highly abbreviated, hearsay accounts of the statements of select witnesses (e.g., the victims on whom counts in the proposed indictment were based).14 The agent led the jury through a PowerPoint of exhibits (e.g., photographs and business records). At the end of the testimony, the agent testified that he or she had not disclosed all that he or she knew, but had only responded to the AUSA’s questions. Afterwards, each grand jury voted to return the proposed indictment.15

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14 Under federal law, “[i]t is entirely permissible for the government to use hearsay evidence in its presentation to the grand jury.” United States v. Garcia, 413 F.3d 201, 213 (2d Cir. 2005) (quoting United States v. Ruggiero, 934 F.2d 440, 447 (2d Cir. 1991)); see also United States v. Dukagjini, 326 F.3d 45, 54 (2d Cir. 2003) (noting the common “grand jury practice, improper at trial, of a single agent simply summarizing an investigation by others”).

15 The first Maxwell grand jury met on June 29, 2020. It heard testimony from an FBI special agent. The agent’s testimony lasted approximately one hour and 25 minutes, spanning 74 double-spaced transcript pages. Two exhibits were put before the grand jury: a PowerPoint containing slides referred to during the agent’s testimony; and the proposed indictment of Maxwell. The same grand jury briefly met again on July 8, 2020, for the purpose of returning the “S1” superseding indictment, which corrected two typographical errors in the indictment. Compare Dkt. 17, with Dkt. 1. The grand jury did not receive additional evidence.

The second Maxwell grand jury met on March 29, 2021. It heard testimony from a New York Police Department detective. The detective’s testimony lasted approximately an hour and 48 minutes, not including a brief recess, and spanned 117 double-spaced transcript pages. Nearly two-thirds of the testimony consisted of reading into the record the special agent’s June 29, 2020 testimony. Six exhibits were put before the grand jury: the transcript of the June 29, 2020 grand jury testimony; the PowerPoint put before the June 29, 2020 grand jury; a new PowerPoint with further exhibits; the two earlier indictments of Maxwell; and the proposed “S2” superseding indictment.

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