Portions of Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2016 Testimony Unsealed by Judge
Portions of Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2016 Testimony Unsealed by Judge
(Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of pages of Ghislaine Maxwell’s sworn testimony, including her answers to “intrusive questioning” about her sex life, and other previously sealed records should be publicly released, a judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska at a Thursday hearing ordered the unsealing of large portions of Maxwell’s 2016 deposition under oath and other court records from an already settled defamation lawsuit by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. The judge said the public interest “far outweighed” the possible “embarrassment.” She gave Maxwell’s lawyer a week to appeal.
The judge went through some of the material page-by-page, approving the unsealing of correspondence between Maxwell and Epstein, other depositions by unidentified victims and unidentified emails, among other items.
If upheld, the document dump could offer fresh insight into Maxwell and Epstein’s world. A prior release last August included less than a tenth of Maxwell’s deposition testimony but yielded new information about famous men who allegedly had sex with underage girls at the direction of Maxwell and Epstein. A day after the documents were released, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell of an apparent suicide.
Maxwell, 58, is being held in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial next year on charges that she recruited and groomed girls as young as 14 for Epstein, and participated in some of the abuse. Prosecutors also allege that she perjured herself during her deposition for the defamation case. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The records Preska ordered unsealed are from a suit filed by Virginia Giuffre, who claims Maxwell and Epstein lured her into sexual abuse when she was 16. She sued Maxwell for calling her account “obvious lies.” Maxwell’s April 2016 deposition in the case was sealed along with other documents after the parties reached a confidential settlement in 2017.
Preska rejected Maxwell’s argument against unsealing on the grounds that it could release embarrassing personal information. Maxwell’s lawyer, Laura Menninger had previously cited one portion of Maxwell’s deposition that she said included “intrusive questioning” about her sex life that the socialite had answered based on her expectation of confidentiality.
But the judge was unconvinced and further suggested Maxwell had not revealed much.
“In the context of this case, especially its allegations of sex trafficking of
young girls, the Court finds that any minor embarrassment or annoyance resulting from disclosure of Ms. Maxwell’s mostly nontestimony about behavior that has been widely reported in the press is far outweighed by the presumption of public access,” Preska said.
Preska also rejected the Maxwell defense team’s concerns that the unsealing of information from the Giuffre case could hinder their client’s ability to receive a fair trial from an impartial jury. The judge said Maxwell’s lawyers had failed to show how any of the unsealed information could “inappropriately influence potential witnesses or victims.”
Preska said some material would be redacted while other records would remain sealed, including depositions Maxwell’s lawyers took of Giuffre and her doctors regarding specific medical treatment she’d received. While Maxwell’s lawyers prepare their appeal, they should also confer with Giuffre’s lawyers and ready papers for release, the judge said.
Maxwell will take her challenge of the judge’s order to same federal appeals court in New York which last August unsealed 40 of the 612 pages of her testimony in the Giuffre case. Prosecutors used portions of the April 2016 deposition in the indictment they unsealed July 2, saying she lied under oath when she denied knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of underage girls.
In the portion of testimony that was previously made public, Maxwell claimed Giuffre was 17 when she hired her as a massage therapist for Epstein at his Palm Beach estate but denied knowledge of any sexual abuse of underage girls or having witnessed any abuse.
“You can be a professional masseuse at 17 in Florida, so as far as I am aware, a professional masseuse showed up for a massage,” Maxwell said. “There is nothing inappropriate or incorrect about that.”
Separately, the judge overseeing Maxwell’s criminal case on Thursday also dealt a blow to Maxwell’s attempts to limit the flow of information, rejecting her request to impose a gag order preventing prosecutors, federal agents and lawyers for the alleged victims from discussing the case.
U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan said no order was necessary at the moment “to protect the Defendant’s right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.” But the judge warned lawyers and witnesses that she “wouldn’t hesitate to take appropriate action” if she determined they violated court rules barring them from making comments about the evidence outside of court.
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