Gag FBI so Maxwell gets a fair trial, say lawyers
GHISLAINE Maxwell’s lawyers have demanded a gagging order on the FBI, prosecutors and victims’ lawyers.
They claim that unless one is granted she will not be able to get a fair trial, because a jury may not be impartial after the FBI referred to her as a ‘slithering snake’ and others made prejudicial statements.
In an extraordinary seven-page letter, attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam painted her as the victim and demanded that anyone speaking out against her face contempt charges.
The letter was filed at federal court in New York where Maxwell, 58, the daughter of disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, is accused of conspiring with paedophile Epstein to run a sex trafficking scheme.
Prosecutors claim she groomed girls as young as 14 and delivered them to a ‘trap’ so Epstein could abuse them.
Maxwell is currently in federal prison in Brooklyn after a judge denied her bail.
The letter from her lawyers was sent to that same judge, Alison Nathan, who called Maxwell a flight risk as she rejected her $5million bail package. The letter states: ‘Although Ms Maxwell is presumed innocent, the government, its agents, witnesses and their lawyers have made, and continue to make, statements prejudicial to a fair trial.
‘A defendant must be judged by a jury of her peers based on evidence presented at trial, not in the media.’
Maxwell has denied all the allegations against her, and her trial is due to take place in July of next year.