Maxwell’s former assistant sues Epstein exposé author

A BRITISH former assistant to Ghislaine Maxwell is suing the journalist whose reporting helped reopen the sextrafficking case, claiming she was defamed in her book about the exposé.

Emmy Tayler, 47, this week filed a lawsuit against Julie Brown over claims she “falsely identified her as a co-conspirator, aider, abettor and facilitator in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse pyramid scheme” in Perversion of Justice.

The Oxford-born actress is suing Ms Brown and publisher Harpercollins for more than $75,000 (£62,000) for the “enormous and continuing distress, hurt, humiliation and embarrassment”.

According to Ms Tayler’s complaint, Ms Brown “never attempted to approach” her for comment, and, along with Harpercollins, “elected to defame” her “without regard for the dire consequences she would suffer”.

Ms Brown, 60, is a Miami Herald investigative journalist whose reporting on Epstein is credited with bringing the true scale of the sex trafficking ring to light.

The lawsuit, filed in Florida, cites one particular passage in the award-winning book that describes how Epstein sexually abused a 14-year-old girl who visited his Palm Beach home in 2005 to provide him with a “massage”. Ms Brown’s book states that Ms Tayler was the assistant who arranged Epstein’s massage schedule and led the girl, referred to as Jane Doe 1, up the stairs to Epstein’s bedroom.

Ms Tayler’s complaint, however, argues that she did not live in Palm Beach in 2005 and was not working as the financier’s assistant. Instead, Ms Tayler claims she was Maxwell’s assistant from 1997 to 2001 in London and New York before she relocated to Los Angeles in 2002.

One Epstein victim claimed in a civil lawsuit that Ms Tayler instructed her how to massage Epstein at his mansion. During Maxwell’s federal trial, another Epstein victim recalled “a British woman named Emmy” being present during a group massage.

Ms Tayler has strenuously denied any wrongdoing. Harpercollins has not responded.

The publisher added a “disclaimer” in the book related to Ms Tayler but “have refused to recall the book and have failed to take sufficient steps to ensure that it is no longer available to purchase or otherwise publicly available”, the complaint claims.

Ms Tayler is the third woman to sue Ms Brown over the book.

In February, Courtney Wild and Haley Robson filed a claim that Ms Brown “re-victimised” them.