Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Judge orders release of Epstein records
A federal judge in New York on Thursday ordered the unsealing of key documents from a settled civil lawsuit involving Ghislaine Maxwell and victims alleging sex abuse and trafficking by the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Senior District Judge Loretta Preska ruled from the bench in a telephonic hearing that the public interest in the matter outweighed Maxwell’s claims that the documents, including depositions of central players in the Epstein saga, would prove embarrassing or interfere with ongoing legal matters.
Maxwell’s opposition to the unsealing effort, filed by the Miami Herald after it published a series of articles on Epstein titled “Perversion of Justice,” had long preceded her arrest on July 2 at a secluded New Hampshire mansion on allegations that she helped shepherd women and underage girls to Epstein for sexual abuse. She has pleaded innocent but was denied bail in a July 14 hearing.
The documents ordered unsealed by Preska are from the process of discovery, where lawyers from each side can ask detailed questions of each other’s witnesses ahead of a trial. Specifically, they were motions already decided on by a judge who first heard the civil lawsuit from Epstein victims against Maxwell.
Lawyers for Maxwell had argued that unsealing the documents could prejudice witnesses or victims in other outstanding cases.
Preska was not buying it.
“It should be clear the court finds that the countervailing interests identified failed to rebut the presumption of public access to the motions,” Preska said, noting names of most nonparties in the case would be redacted from public view. “Accordingly those papers shall be unsealed.”
The 2015 civil lawsuit was brought by Virginia Giuffre, who alleges Epstein abused her when she was 17 and that Maxwell recruited her when Giuffre was a spa assistant at Palm Beach’s Mar-A-Lago, owned by now-President Donald Trump.
Through her publicist, Giuffre said she had no immediate comment.
Preska said the presumption of public access to these documents “far outweighed” any rights to avoid embarrassment or annoyance claimed by Maxwell. She ordered the documents readied for unsealing within a week, but gave Maxwell’s lawyers a week to file an appeal. If none is granted, the documents would begin hitting the docket next Thursday.
Aminda Marques Gonzalez, president, publisher and executive editor of the Herald, said, “The Miami Herald’s tenacity in pursuit of the truth for the public is another example of the important role of local journalists. This is an expensive pursuit but it is vital.”
The prosecution of Maxwell, 58, in the Southern District of New York is being closely watched since the alleged madam rubbed shoulders with Hollywood A-listers, Britain’s Prince Andrew and famous politicians, including former President Bill Clinton and Trump.
Trump made headlines this week by using a coronavirus news conference to say he wished Maxwell well in her legal troubles.
The outcome of the civil case will be of interest to prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz, as Giuffre has said Maxwell recruited her to have sex with Epstein and other men, including Dershowitz, who has denied the allegation.
Dershowitz, who represented Epstein on legal matters and was also a friend of the multimillionaire, and Giuffre are suing each other for defamation.
Dershowitz had urged the unsealing at least some of the documents, saying they would establish his truthfulness.