Ghislaine Maxwell’s private documents, including correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, to be made public
Judge orders release of records revealing intimate personal details, ruling public interest in disclosure outweighs ‘embarrassment’.
Confidential testimony given by Ghislaine Maxwell in response to “intrusive” questioning about her personal life should be made public along with dozens of other documents, a judge in New York ruled yesterday (Thursday).
Judge Loretta Preska ordered that the material must be released within a week and said the public interest in its disclosure outweighed any “minor embarrassment” to Ms Maxwell. Lawyers for Ms Maxwell are to file an emergency appeal against the decision.
The former socialite, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges that she groomed underage girls for the financier Jeffrey Epstein, gave the deposition during a defamation case that was settled in 2017.
It was filed with the court along with flight logs from Epstein’s jets, correspondence between Ms Maxwell and Epstein, police reports from Palm Beach, where he had a home, and testimony from alleged victims of Epstein, who was arrested a year ago and held in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. Parts of Ms Maxwell’s testimony and some of the other documents were released last August, a day before Epstein killed himself.
Lawyers for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who brought the defamation case against Maxwell and who alleges that she was trafficked by Epstein and Ms Maxwell and made to have sex with the Duke of York, had called for the documents to be made public.
Ms Maxwell and Prince Andrew have both denied the allegations. Last week Ms Maxwell pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that she conspired to entice and transport minors to Epstein between 1994 and 1997. She has also pleaded not guilty to perjury charges.
Her lawyers argued that the sealed documents from the civil case should remain confidential, saying they could embarrass Ms Maxwell, 58, and might “inappropriately influence potential witnesses or victims”.
Judge Preska dismissed the arguments yesterday (Thursday), describing the deposition as “Ms Maxwell’s mostly non-testimony about behaviour that has been widely reported in the press”. She said Ms Maxwell had “refused to testify as to any consensual behaviour” and had denied knowledge of any allegations involving underage victims.
She said: “Ms Maxwell has not explained how this filed material, if released, would inappropriately influence potential witnesses or victims”. She ordered that most of the documents be unsealed or that redacted portions be made public, making exceptions for those that detailed Ms Maxwell’s medical history.
Laura Menninger, Ms Maxwell’s lawyer, asked for a two-week delay pending appeal, noting that previous objections to the documents’ release were made before her client’s arrest. “Where we were speaking about a potential ongoing criminal investigation, since that time Ms Maxwell has been indicted and a trial scheduled,” she said. She said lawyers may now be able to provide specific reasons for objecting to the documents’ release. Judge Preska said she would allow a week for an appeal.
The Times
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