Judge Releases Trove Of Sealed Records Related To Case Against Ghislaine Maxwell
(NPR) Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET
A federal judge has unsealed hundreds of pages of deposition transcripts and other documents related to a now-settled defamation suit brought against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of helping the late Jeffrey Epstein run a sex trafficking operation that catered to rich and powerful men.
The 47 documents include a deposition given by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the draft of a memoir she was writing about her experiences inside the sex-trafficking ring, and previously unseen email exchanges between Maxwell and Epstein.
A centerpiece of the documents remains sealed: Ghislaine Maxwell's own deposition transcripts from 2016. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska granted a stay on those records and a transcript from "John Doe 1" until Monday, to give her legal team time to seek a stay in appellate court.
Maxwell, Epstein's ex-girlfriend, was charged earlier this month on several counts related to sex trafficking of minors and perjury. She has pleaded not guilty in that case. The 2015 defamation suit was brought by Giuffre after the British socialite accused her of lying when she alleged Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused and exploited her.
Some of the documents released late Thursday night are being seen publicly for the first time; others have been released before, but now have different or no redactions.
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Maxwell has denied allegations linking her to Epstein's exploitation of girls and young women, including under sworn testimony. But federal authorities now accuse her of committing perjury during depositions.
In legal records about Epstein, Giuffre was once known only as "Jane Doe No. 102." But she decided to speak out publicly "in hopes of helping others who had also suffered from sexual trafficking and abuse," according to her lawsuit against Maxwell.
Giuffre has said she fell under Maxwell and Epstein's influence in 1999, when she was 15 years old and working at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Fla., resort owned by Trump. She says Maxwell recruited her to give Epstein a massage – and that years of sexual abuse followed, including instructions for Giuffre to have sex with Epstein's friends.
Epstein never faced a federal trial for the crimes he was accused of. Roughly a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges last summer, he died after being found unresponsive in his jail cell in Manhattan. His death at age 66 was ruled a suicide. (Read More)
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/31/896627505/judge-releases-trove-of-sealed-records-related-to-case-against-ghislaine-maxwell
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