Ghislaine Maxwell deposition: Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre bathtub sex claim ‘not possible’

Prince’s name among many redacted from Ghislaine Maxwell’s 418-page deposition.

Ghislaine Maxwell admitted under oath that the photograph of Australian woman Virginia Roberts Giuffre with Prince Andrew’s arm around her waist includes details from a room inside of her London mews home.

But Ms Maxwell says the claims Ms Giuffre had sex with her friend Andrew in the bathtub in her mews house was “just not possible” because “the tub is too small for any type of activity whatsoever”.

Ms Maxwell’s 418-page deposition, which she had provided to a 2015 court case against Ms Giuffre, was released in the United States on Thursday with most names redacted.

Ghislaine Maxwell. Picture: Getty Images

Ms Maxwell is currently awaiting trial on charges that she acted as the “madam” and lured under age girls for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 1997. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Ms Maxwell’s lawyers had desperately tried to keep the deposition sealed, but prosecutors wanted it to test if Ms Maxwell had perjured herself.

Ms Maxwell’s attorney Adam Mueller unsuccessfully argued that the release of the deposition could prejudice a jury in her current trial.

The deposition was made during a defamation court case brought about by Ms Giuffre five years ago.

In it, Ms Maxwell reveals she had an intimate relationship with Epstein and she worked with him through the 1990s until around 2009, after which she continued to receive money and loans from him and at least one car.

Ms Giuffre claimed she was trafficked by Epstein to his associates, including having sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions, once when she was aged 17.

A critical passage in the deposition refers to the claims made by Ms Giuffre that she and Andrew had sex in the bathtub of Ms Maxwell’s London mews house.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she was trafficked to Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, when she was 17. The pair are pictured together in a now infamous photograph taken in 2001. Prince Andrew denies the allegation and says the photo is a fake. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/TLiF532y4O

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) November 10, 2019

While Andrew’s name was redacted, the questions referred to Ms Giuffre’s claim about that night, including attending a nightclub, being provided with clothes and a designer handbag and sex in the bath tub.

Ms Maxwell provided information to the court that was similar to Andrew’s statements in the disastrous BBC interview in November 2019 about the now-famous photograph where he said: “Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored but I don’t recollect that photograph ever being taken”.

Ms Maxwell said in the deposition: “We can’t really establish the photograph and all that. I don’t know if that’s true, if that’s a real picture or not … I don’t recognise that picture. I’m not sure if that’s a real picture or not.”

However she admitted that in her London home she had a picture on the wall in the position shown in the photograph and also had a railing with a bubble wood top, again depicted in the photograph.

In the deposition, Ms Maxwell said she spoke to a person, believed to be Andrew, about Ms Giuffre in January 2015.

She said the two spoke about Ms Giuffre being a liar.

“I don’t think he told me why she was a liar. The substance of everything that she said was a lie with regard to him …. and he asked me if he even knew her. We discussed Virginia’s entire tale,” she testified.

The legal counsel exchange with Ms Maxwell was then as follows:

Q: So did tell you that he did not have sex with Virginia Roberts?

A: He doesn’t even know who Virginia Roberts is.

Q: Did he tell you that he didn’t have sex with her?

A: It would be difficult to have sex someone you don’t know.

Q: He may not remember her?

A: I think the inference is he didn’t know who she was, he didn’t have any recollection of her whatsoever.

Q: Has (redacted name) ever come to your London town home?

A: Yes. Ever being the entire time I owned my house, yes.

She then added Ms Giuffre was lying because her characterisation of what took place in her bathroom was just not possible.

“She then characterised things took place in my bathroom in the bathtub itself. The tub is too small for any type of activity whatsoever,” Ms Maxwell said.

Throughout the deposition Ms Maxwell was evasive and refused to answer many questions about Epstein’s activities.

A photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein is seen as acting US Attorney as charges against Maxwell are announced during a press conference in New York City in July. Picture: AFP

She admitted to knowing about a puppet, but couldn’t recall who was with the puppet. Ms Giuffre has claimed Andrew groped herself and another woman with the Spitting Image puppet when they were together in New York.

Ms Maxwell also testified that former US president Bill Clinton had never been to Epstein’s US Virgin Island hideout.

She repeatedly refused to answer nearly a dozen questions about whether Epstein abused minors.

She admitted keeping in touch with Epstein following his 2008 conviction — which was about soliciting an under age prostitute — because “I’m a very loyal person and Jeffrey was very good to me when my father passed away and I believe that you need to be a good friend in people’s hour of need”.

She said it was a “nice thing for me to do” and she felt “I was being thoughtful in somebody’s hour of need”.

In the BBC interview, Andrew said he kept in touch with Epstein because “I felt it was the honourable and right thing to do”.

Ms Maxwell testified that Ms Giuffre was “a liar, an exaggerator, a fantasist and absolutely true terrible person”.

From the deposition it showed the court had email evidence that Epstein was offering money to Giuffre’s friends and associates to testify against her.

Epstein committed suicide in August, 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.