Court orders release of secret Maxwell papers
NEW YORK: Previously unseen documents in the civil case against disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell will be unsealed, according to court papers.
Judge Loretta Preska ordered the release of five collections of documents that relate to a seven-hour, 418page deposition Maxwell gave as part of a now-settled defamation lawsuit filed against her in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre, the New York Post reports.
The papers are among a trove of secret filings that were ordered unsealed by Justice Preska in a hearing last week.
“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 non-testimony about behaviour that has been widely reported in the press is far outweighed by the presumption of public access,” the judge said in a statement.
Justice Preska granted Maxwell’s legal team a oneweek stay on the release so they could file an appeal at the hearing last Thursday.
Ms Giuffre sued the British socialite for defamation after Maxwell claimed Ms Giuffre had made up the sexual abuse allegations against her and her ex-partner, the late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Ms Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most vocal accusers, has said Maxwell forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew, one of Epstein’s close pals, when she was underage. The prince has denied the allegations.
Maxwell was arrested earlier this month on sex-trafficking and perjury charges and ordered held without bail until her case goes to trial next year. She has pleaded not guilty.
The former socialite is accused of procuring underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse at his properties in the US and in England.
Maxwell once hired someone to write a birthday song for Epstein — insisting that it refer to 24-hour erections and schoolgirl crushes, according to a report.
Journalist Christopher Mason told The Times of London how Maxwell had approached him in New York to pen the birthday surprise because he was known for witty musical “roasts”.
“Normally I speak to as many people who know the person as possible, but this time I was only allowed to speak to Ghislaine,” Mason told the British paper of the undated request.
She said the song had to refer to schoolgirls having crushes on Epstein when he was a teacher at a New York school in the 1970s.