Ghislaine Maxwell loses bid to keep Jeffrey Epstein testimony secret
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Oct 21, 2020
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell's previous "extremely personal" testimony regarding her sex life as the alleged madam of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein may soon be made public following a decision by a US appeals court on Monday.
And on Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said there was a presumption the public had a right to see Maxwell's 418-page deposition about her relationship with Epstein.
Jeffrey Epstein's longtime girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator unsuccessfully attempted to block the publication of her deposition from a 2015 lawsuit in which Virginia Roberts Giuffre accused the couple of sex trafficking her during the early 2000s.
On Monday, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit struck down Maxwell's attempt to block release of the documents, including a 418-page deposition by her, that were ordered released by Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court for the Southern District of NY in July.
The order by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan is a defeat for the British socialite, who said releasing the deposition could undermine her ability to defend against criminal charges she enabled Epstein's sexual abuse of girls.
Ghislaine Maxwell loses bid to keep her Jeffrey Epstein.
epa08546198 The Metropolitan Detention Center where Ghislaine Maxwell is being held awaiting the outcome of her bail hearing, in Brooklyn, New York, USA, 14 July 2020. "Specifically, she argues that there is a lower presumption of access to the deposition materials at issue in this case than to the summary judgment materials we ordered unsealed in [a similar case in 2019], and that her interests outweigh the public's interests".
Maxwell's lawyers said the depositions should remain secret because they form the basis of perjury charges in the indictment against Maxwell.
A trial is scheduled for next July.
Lawyers for Maxwell have not commented. The U.S. Department of Justice, which opposed modifying the protective order, did not immediately respond to a similar request.
Maxwell has been incarcerated since her arrest in early July.
He was arrested in 2019 on child sex-trafficking charges, and roughly a month later, he was found unresponsive in his jail cell.
