Ghislaine Maxwell Loses Bid to Keep Court Claims About Private Life Secret

Ghislaine Maxwell has lost an attempt to keep secret seven hours of her testimony on Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse allegations, Sky News reported.

The British socialite, 58, is awaiting trial on a 17-page indictment of trafficking offences in July next year but wanted her past evidence to a defamation lawsuit kept out of her case.

She asked a court of appeal to block the release of seven hours of testimony and 2,000 legal documents which her lawyers argued would compromise her ability to defend herself.

However, the court of appeal ruled against Epstein's former girlfriend paving the way for her past testimony to be used in evidence against her, Reuters reported.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan also upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in which she said Maxwell's objections were "meritless arguments."

Maxwell's deposition was given in two parts in April and July 2016 after Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation.

The case was settled out of court in 2017 but the F.B.I. were subsequently given a copy of Maxwell's 418-page deposition.

The daughter of deceased U.K. newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell argued the documents contained "intimate, sensitive, and personal details" which would damage her ability to defend herself.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Vanity Fair Oscar Party 2014
Ghislaine Maxwell attends the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted by Graydon Carter in West Hollywood, California, on March 2, 2014. She is currently awaiting trial on trafficking and perjury charges. Kevin Mazur/Getty

She denies allegations she trafficked young girls for sex with Epstein between 1994 and 1997.

She also pleaded not guilty to a charge of perjury in relation to the 2016 deposition.

The last time a large cache of court files were unsealed, in July, it caused a tidal wave of news coverage.

Giuffre's own deposition was among documents released to the public and included allegations Bill Clinton flew to Epstein's private island with two young girls.

The former president denies the claim, with spokesperson Angel Ureña saying he had "never been to Little St. James Island."

Asked whether she was ever present with Epstein and Clinton on the island, Giuffre said: "Ghislane, Emmy [another girl who was allegedly a regular at Epstein's house], and there was 2 young girls that I could identify.

"I never really knew them well anyways. It was just 2 girls from New York."

Giuffre says she was groomed by Maxwell as a teenager and trafficked around the world to have sex with him and his rich and powerful friends.

Among those she accuses is Prince Andrew, who she says she was made to have sex with in London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2001.

Ghislaine Maxwell's denies the charges and is due to stand trial in July.

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Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more

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