Lawyers Fight to Seal Maxwell's 'Intimate' Testimony

Release of 2016 depositions would harm her chances of getting a fair trial, they say
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2020 3:54 AM CDT
Maxwell Fights to Keep 'Intimate Information' Sealed
In this July 2, 2020 photo, Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announces charges against Ghislaine Maxwell.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are fighting to block the release of what they describe as "intimate information" about her sex life from two depositions in 2016. Other documents in the case were unsealed Thursday night, the Guardian reports. The depositions were part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused Maxwell of recruiting her and other underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse. The documents unsealed Thursday include emails between Epstein and Maxwell from 2015, when Giuffre's allegations were receiving media attention, the AP reports. "You have done nothing wrong and i woudl [sic] urge you to start acting like it," Epstein told his former romantic partner. "Go outside, head high, not as an esacping[sic] convict. go to parties. deal with it."

Maxwell, 58, is being held at a New York City federal detention center pending trial on charges that she procured girls for Epstein to abuse. Her lawyers argue that in the 2016 depositions, she was promised confidentiality before she was forced to answer "personal, sensitive, and allegedly incriminatory questions," Reuters reports. "The unsealing of Ms. Maxwell’s deposition transcript would result in substantial negative media publicity and speculation in an Internet world," lawyer Ty Gee wrote in an emergency appeal. "The public’s right of access to Ms. Maxwell’s deposition transcript is substantially outweighed by the compelling interest in ensuring her right to a fair trial." Unless the appeals court orders a delay, the depositions will be released on Monday. (More Ghislaine Maxwell stories.)

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