US: Judge allows release of Epstein documents in Maxwell case
Jeffery Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell sought to block the release and obtain a gag order in New York court.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, suffered dual setbacks in a United States court on Thursday, as a judge authorised the release of new materials related to her, while another judge refused to block prosecutors and lawyers from publicly discussing her criminal case.
US District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan directed the release of large portions of more than 80 documents from a 2015 civil lawsuit against Maxwell, the British socialite now facing criminal charges that she lured girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.
The materials ordered unsealed include flight logs from Epstein’s private jets, testimony from depositions in 2016 in which Maxwell‘s lawyers said she was asked “intrusive questions” about her sex life and police reports from Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a home.
Maxwell, 58, is being held in a Brooklyn jail after pleading not guilty last week to charges she helped Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls from 1994 to 1997, and committed perjury by denying knowledge of his abuse in depositions.
Preska said the presumption the public had a right to access the documents outweighed Maxwell‘s arguments to keep them under wraps, including that they concerned “extremely personal” matters whose release could prove embarrassing or annoying.
The judge gave Maxwell one week to file an emergency appeal, but said both sides should proceed as though the documents will be made public “within a week”.
Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier, US District Judge Alison Nathan rejected Maxwell‘s separate effort to block prosecutors, FBI agents and lawyers for some accusers from making out-of-court statements about her criminal case.
Nathan, who oversees the criminal case, said a gag order was not needed to protect Maxwell‘s right to a fair trial, but that she “will not hesitate” to act if needed.
A trial is scheduled for July 12, 2021.
Epstein was arrested in July last year and pleaded not guilty to separate sexual abuse charges. He was found hanged on August 10 in his jail cell at age 66, in a death ruled a suicide.
Before his arrest, Epstein had socialised over the years with many prominent people, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton. Trump has tried to distance himself from Epstein and Maxwell.
Asked about Trump's baffling comment wishing Ghislaine Maxwell "well," Kayleigh McEnany tells @BretBaier he was noting "that the last person who was charged in this case ended up dead in a jail cell" because he wants justice served and prefers for it to play out in a courtroom.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 23, 2020
A reporter asked the president during a Tuesday briefing if Maxwell will “turn” on powerful men rumoured to have engaged in illicit behaviour. Trump replied: “I don’t know. I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years – especially since I lived in Palm Beach. I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well. Whatever it is.”
Fair trial?
The documents that Preska ordered unsealed were part of Virginia Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Maxwell, which was confidentially settled in 2017.
Giuffre has accused Epstein of sexually abusing her when she was underage, and Maxwell of aiding in the abuse. Maxwell has denied her claims.
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Some information, including the names of “non-parties” and other Epstein accusers who have not publicly revealed their identities, will remain redacted.
Laura Menninger, a lawyer for Maxwell, told Preska the appeal reflected the “great concerns” Maxwell might not get a fair criminal trial if more information about her past became public, “given the intensity and the scrutiny” surrounding her.
Some records from the Giuffre case, including parts of Maxwell‘s deposition testimony, were unsealed the day before Epstein died, and one day after he executed his will.
Epstein reached a nonprosecution agreement with US prosecutors in Miami in 2007, and pleaded guilty the following year to Florida prostitution charges, rather than face federal sex-trafficking charges.
He was sentenced to 13 months in jail, and the nonprosecution agreement is now widely seen as too lenient.