Maxwell’s sex life secrets should be revealed: judge
Ghislaine Maxwell’s only official account of her alleged role in a sex trafficking operation run by associate Jeffrey Epstein is set to be made public in the coming days, after a judge ruled potentially damaging files could be unsealed.
It is expected that the files will expose fresh details about 58-year-old Maxwell’s sex life, as well as her relation to powerful figures accused of taking part in the abuse of the late financier’s victims.
Maxwell’s lawyers had previously claimed that information contained in the 80 documents, which run to hundreds of pages, would cause “embarrassment” as they fought to keep them secret.
The documents were part of Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Maxwell, which was brought in 2015 and confidentially settled in 2017.
Among the records that are due to be released is thought to be a 418-page transcript of Maxwell’s deposition — her only on-the-record account of her association with Epstein — which attorneys argue was given under an expectation of confidentiality that had been agreed to by both parties in the dispute.
Maxwell’s lawyers had said she was asked unduly “intrusive” questions about her sex life, which were not in the public interest.
The documents also include police reports from Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a home, and flight logs from his private jets.
Papers relating to two unnamed men, identified in court documents only as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, were also to be revealed. The judge noted that neither had objected.
Limited excerpts of the depositions were released last year, in a ruling that came a day before Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in August.
Included in that collection were excerpts from depositions naming several prominent men Giuffre alleges Epstein and Maxwell directed her to have sex with, including Prince Andrew.
Loretta Preska, the US district judge in Manhattan, granted Maxwell’s lawyers one week to appeal against the decision.
The case is separate from a criminal case against Maxwell, in which she is accused by federal prosecutors of procuring girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse. She has pleaded not guilty.
In another blow to Maxwell, earlier in the day she lost a motion in that case to ban the government or lawyers for women who claim abuse from making public comments on the case.