Dozens of new documents related to Ghislaine Maxwell’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein have been publicly released as the British socialite defends herself against criminal charges.
“You have done nothing wrong and I would [sic] urge you to start acting like it,” Epstein wrote in January 25, 2015, email to Ms Maxwell, The Guardian reported.
“go outside, head high, not as an esacping[sic] convict. go to parties. deal with it.”
The exchange followed a request from Ms Maxwell, who was romantically linked to Epstein, to be distanced from his dating life.
“I would appreciate it if shelley would come out and say she was your g’friend – I think she was from end 99 to 2002,” she had written the day before.
Ms Maxwell’s lawyers had argued the release of information could destroy her ability to get a fair trial against criminal charges that she aided the late financier’s sexual abuse of girls.
On July 23, US District Judge Loretta Preska ordered the release of large portions of more than 80 documents from a 2015 civil defamation lawsuit against Ms Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre. She has accused Epstein of keeping her as a “sex slave” – with Ms Maxwell’s assistance.
On Thursday (local time), Ms Maxwell filed an emergency motion with the federal appeals court in Manhattan to block the release of two additional documents, including an April 2016 deposition related to her sex life and a deposition by an unnamed Epstein accuser.
Her lawyers said making her deposition public could make it “difficult, if not impossible” to find an impartial jury for Ms Maxwell’s criminal trial.
The two depositions, and materials that quote from or disclose information contained in them, were expected to remain sealed at least until Monday, depending on how the appeals court rules.
Materials covered by Judge Preska’s July 23 order included flight logs from Epstein’s private jets; and police reports from Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a home, among other documents.
Ms Maxwell, 58, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse three girls from 1994-1997, and committing perjury by denying her involvement under oath.
She was arrested on July 2, and has been housed in a Brooklyn jail after a judge called her a flight risk. Ms Maxwell’s trial is scheduled for July 2021.
Epstein was found hanged at age 66 last August in a Manhattan jail, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges for abusing women and girls in Manhattan and Florida from 2002 to 2005. He had pleaded not guilty.
