Maxwell files to lay bare claims of sexual abuse in high places

IN ROOM 270, the records management unit, on the second floor of an imposing granite and marble courthouse in lower Manhattan, 167 documents totalling more than 2,000 pages are kept under lock and key.

But they are about to be made public – making important people around the world, including celebrities, politicians and royals, very nervous.

The files contain explosive allegations in the case of Giuffre v Maxwell, in which Virginia Giuffre, who claims to have been Jeffrey Epstein’s teenage “sex slave”, sued Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and the billionaire’s former girlfriend, for defamation.

The case was settled in May 2017 on the eve of the trial but the details were not disclosed and the final judgment and documents were sealed, with the court noting the “highly sensitive nature of the underlying allegations”.

According to other documents, Ms Giuffre has made allegations of sexual abuse against “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders” in her reports.

An appeal to unseal the rest of the documents was made by the Miami Herald. It was rejected three times. But last month the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered their release, ruling that the public’s interest outweighed privacy rights.

In a possible indication of the fame of the individuals, the judges made a plea to the media to “exercise restraint”.

The legal battle between Ms Giuffre and Miss Maxwell began in 2014 when Ms Giuffre claimed that Epstein sexually abused her starting in 2000 when she was 16, with the “assistance and participation” of Miss Maxwell.

Miss Maxwell described the claims as “obvious lies,” and Ms Giuffre then sued her for defamation.