Attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell sought this week to prohibit her accusers from publicly posting evidence from her criminal trial to help boost their civil suits against her.
Fox News reported that “attorneys for Maxwell sought to come to an agreement with prosecutors on secrecy rules– typical for a sex abuse case — in which both sides agree to keep the evidence confidential before the trial, the lawyers could not compromise on whether to extend the rules to the state’s witnesses.” Those witnesses, the outlet reported, were underage girls when Maxwell allegedly recruited them to provide sexual favors to Epstein, who died by hanging last year while in prison.
“Attorneys for the British socialite, who faces six counts of sex trafficking involving minors, wrote a letter to the court Monday urging the judge to stop the victims or their attorneys from releasing any information to the internet or elsewhere, including ‘nude, partially nude, or otherwise sexualized images, videos, or other depictions of individuals,’” Fox reported.
Maxwell’s attorneys further wrote of “a substantial concern that these individuals will seek to use discovery materials to support their civil cases and future public statements.”
Documents from a 2015 settled civil lawsuit against Maxwell were unsealed last week even though her attorneys fought to keep them sealed, claiming the documents could “inappropriately influence potential witnesses or alleged victims.”
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Her lawyers were given one week to appeal the decision, but the court is poised to make the document dump available within the week.
Maxwell’s trial in the highly publicized case is scheduled to begin in July 2021 in Manhattan federal.
She has pleaded not guilty to charges that she recruited and aided the abuse of three girls by Epstein in the 1990s.
The fight over posting evidence comes as court documents revealed Maxwell allegedly photographed topless young girls as a “hobby,” according to the New York Post. Epstein’s former butler, Juan Alessi, told a court in 2016 during a previous civil lawsuit that Maxwell and Epstein gave him access to money to pay “probably over 100” girls to massage the two, according to the newly unsealed deposition, which was published by the Daily Mail.
“And I remember that she had. Like a hobby … It was some girls were topless, taking the sun,” Alessi said in the deposition, adding that the girls did not show “any vaginal or things.”
Alessi, now 70, also said in the deposition that he would find sex toys in the room where the massages took place, which he had to wash.
“I would find things like a dildo, it’s called a double,” Alessi said.
“But I find these things, put my gloves on, took it out and rinse it, and put it in Ms. Maxwell’s closet,” he added. He also said he found a “shiny black costume” in a closet he believed belonged to Maxwell and was used for sex.
Alessi worked at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion between 1990 and 2002.