Ghislaine Maxwell fears an unfair trial should an old testimony be published.
Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, has been in a New York prison since her arrest, awaiting the start of her trial, which was scheduled for July 12, 2021. The former confidante of the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019) fears that she will not get a fair trial if details of an earlier testimony are made public.
As reported by the British daily "Daily Mirror", among others, Maxwell's lawyers stated at a court hearing on August 20 that intimate information could spread "like wildfire on the Internet" if the previously sealed documents of the hearing were published. Therefore, they asked the court to keep Maxwell's testimony and other documents under lock and key.
Statement is from 2016
The files in question come from a defamation lawsuit that Virginia Giuffre, 37, the alleged victim of Epstein and Prince Andrew, 60, filed against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015 and which was settled out of court in 2017. Maxwell himself was heard among the allegations in 2016. A judge had previously ordered that the files, which were originally sealed at the time, could be used for the ongoing investigation.
Maxwell's attorneys argue that the order did not adequately take into account the privacy and promise of confidentiality she was given prior to testifying. If the court order actually came into effect and the documents were published, “the cat would be out of the bag forever” and “intimate, sensitive and private information” would be disseminated freely, Maxwell's lawyers said.
Prejudice from negative headlines?
In addition, the publication would lead to "irrefutable and unconstitutional" negative reporting that would undermine the "truth-finding process" of Maxwell's proceedings. According to the lawyers, witnesses would feel induced to "reformulate their memories of events decades ago".
Maxwell was arrested by the FBI on July 2 in the US state of New Hampshire and has been in custody in New York until a possible start of the trial on July 12, 2021. Maxwell has been tried on six counts so far. The 58-year-old is accused of helping Epstein abuse underage girls. She is said to have made friends with the girls and pushed them to engage in sexual acts with Epstein. In several cases, she is said to have been involved in the abuse herself. In addition, her perjury is charged in two cases.