Ghislaine Maxwell fights release of more Epstein docs
Lawyers for jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell are opposing the requested release of 90,000 pages related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyers filed papers in Manhattan federal court late Friday seeking to block the release of documents from the civil defamation lawsuit that Epstein’s late victim, Virginia Giuffre, filed against Maxwell a decade ago and has since been settled. The Ministry of Justice recently asked a judge to lift confidentiality requirements on the files.
Maxwell’s lawyers said the Justice Department improperly obtained documents that were otherwise subject to confidentiality orders during its criminal investigation of Maxwell. They said the documents contained transcripts of more than 30 depositions and private information regarding financial and sexual matters involving Maxwell and others.
Some records of the year-long exchange of evidence in the litigation battle had already been made public in response to the federal appeals court’s decision.
Maxwell’s lawyers say the law passed by Congress in December mandating the release of millions of documents related to Epstein violates the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine.
Attorneys Laura Menninger and Jeffrey Pagliuca wrote about the Epstein Files Transparency Act: “Congress may not by operation of law divest this Court of its authority or absolve it of its responsibility to protect its files from misuse. To do so would violate the separation of powers.”
“Under the Constitution’s separation of powers, neither Congress nor the Executive Branch may interfere with jurisdiction. This authority includes the authority to resolve cases and disputes once and for all,” the lawyers wrote. he added.
The publication of documents related to Epstein as part of criminal investigations that began weeks ago has led to the emergence of new revelations about Epstein’s sexual abuse of women and young girls for decades.
Some victims complained that their names and personal information were included in the documents, while the names of the abusers were hidden.
Members of Congress complained that only half of the available documents, most of them redacted, were made public, even though Justice Department officials said everything had been made public except for some files that could not be made public until a judge allowed it.
Giuffre said Epstein sold her out to other men, including the former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. In 2021, she filed a lawsuit against Mountbatten-Windsor, claiming they had sex when she was 17.
He denied her allegations and the duo settled the case in 2022. Days earlier, he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in sharing confidential business information with Epstein and was detained for about 11 hours.
In her memoirs, published after she killed herself last year, Giuffre wrote that prosecutors told her not to include her in the sex trafficking case against Maxwell because they did not want her allegations to distract the jury.
Maxwell, 64, was convicted in December 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Epstein committed suicide in a federal prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a low-security prison camp in Texas last year after participating in two days of deliberations with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Two weeks ago, he refused to answer questions from lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee in a deposition via video call to his federal prison camp, but said in a statement from his lawyer that he was “prepared to speak fully and honestly” if pardoned.
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