The bad news for Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged former madam of the late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, just kept on coming on Thursday when a judge unsealed documents related to her sex life.
The New York Post [1] reported that while Judge Loretta Preska ruled that the documents must be unsealed, she then immediately granted Maxwell’s lawyer Lauren Menninger’s request to give her one week to file an emergency motion with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the decision. Today’s court hearing happened via a video call that Maxwell herself was not on.
“The court finds that any minor embarrassment or annoyance resulting from the disclosure of Miss Maxwell’s mostly non-testimony about behavior that has been widely reported in the press is far outweighed by the presumption of public access,” Preska said.
The documents that Maxwell was desperate to keep sealed are a seven hour, 418-page deposition that the 58 year-old British socialite gave as part of a now-settled defamation lawsuit filed against her by Virginia Roberts Giuffre back in 2015. Giuffre had been suing Maxwell for defamation after she claimed the woman had made up her sexual abuse claims against her and Epstein.
“The subject matter … is extremely personal, confidential and subject to considerable abuse by the media,” Maxwell’s lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca wrote in a filing last month asking that the documents remain sealed.
“Ms. Maxwell was the defendant in this defamation action,” he added [2]. “She did not inject her personal life into this case and was deposed under a court-ordered guarantee that her testimony would remain confidential. She relied on that order and has a strong expectation of continued confidentiality.”
Maxwell was arrested by the FBI earlier this month on a six-count federal indictment charging her with grooming three underage girls to be sexually abused by her and Epstein. A judge has ruled that she be remanded without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City, saying that she poses a significant flight risk given her immense wealth and international connections.
Epstein committed suicide in prison last August as he awaited trial for his sex crimes. Maxwell is due to remain in prison until her trial, which is scheduled for July of 2021.
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com [3] and is used by permission.
Read more at UpliftingToday.com:
Tom Bergeron Breaks His Silence After Tyra Banks Is Given His Job On ‘Dancing With The Stars’ [4]
Ghislaine Maxwell Reportedly ‘Has Tapes Of Two Prominent U.S. Politicians Having Sex With Minors’ [5]
‘Dancing With The Stars’ Fires Tom Bergeron – Reveals His Replacement [6]