Ghislaine Maxwell fails to block release of confidential documents and Epstein flight logs

(TMU) – Alleged sex trafficker and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has failed in her last-minute bid to prevent the release of potentially explosive court documents that could publicly reveal damaging details about her criminal involvement with her late ex-boyfriend and notorious pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

On Wednesday, US District Court Judge Loretta Preska denied Maxwell’s bid to prevent depositions against Maxwell and Epstein from being made public.

The batch of “extremely personal, confidential” documents includes hundreds of pages that detail Maxwell’s dealings with her notorious partner, including flight logs from Epstein’s private jets, and police reports from Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein resided.

Maxwell’s attorneys had argued that the documents are “extremely personal, confidential and subject to considerable abuse by the media,” including “intrusive” questions about her sex life, thus offering “compelling” reason for them not to be released.

Judge Preska has allowed for the deposition’s release to be delayed until Monday to allow Maxwell time to appeal their release, reports CNN.

The documents are related to Epstein accuser and former “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s now-settled 2015 civil lawsuit against Maxwell. Giuffre sued the Maxwell for defamation after she was accused by the British socialite of fabricating the sexual abuse allegations against her and Epstein.

Maxwell was arrested earlier this month over separate allegations that she was involved with Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women and minors.

Maxwell, 58, pleaded not guilty on July 14 to assisting Epstein in the recruitment and sexual abuse of three girls in the 1990s, and of committing perjury by lying about her involvement while under oath.

Maxwell faces charges of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts; enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts; conspiracy to transport minors, and transportation of a minor, with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; and two counts of perjury.

She is accused of grooming multiple minors to engage in sex acts with Epstein by befriending them to ask them about their lives and families while building friendships with the young girls alongside Epstein by taking their victims on social outings or out shopping.

Maxwell faces up to 35 years in jail.

Maxwell’s legal team have accused Giuffre and federal prosecutors of violating a protective order from the civil case meant to keep the transcript of Maxwell’s seven-hour, 418-page deposition confidential.

Her attorneys claim that Giuffre leaked the deposition “in conjunction with the government” in hopes to set up a “perjury trap” for Maxwell.

However, Preska said that criminal probes into Epstein’s dealings and associates had already “loomed large” when Maxwell opposed unsealing the deposition in June, noting that the need for public access “is plowed ground.”

Giuffre has accused Maxwell of recruiting her to work as Epstein’s masseuse when she was only 15 years old and worked as a locker-room attendant at Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. She was eventually reduced to a “sex slave” of the late financier thanks to Maxwell’s assistance.

Maxwell is intensely well-connected with various members of political and business elites. Photographs have long circulated of Maxwell posing at social events with figures including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, giving rise to public suspicion about public figures’ ties to she and Epstein.

Last Tuesday, President Trump confirmed that he knew Maxwell and expressed positive feelings about the accused child sex trafficker, confirming that he had met Maxwell “numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach.” The president also repeatedly said “I just wish her well.”

In her ruling last week, judge Preska said that the public has a right to know the contents of deposition and that this right far outweighs the “annoyance or embarrassment” to Maxwell.

“In the context of this case, especially its allegations of sex trafficking of young girls, the court finds any minor embarrassment or annoyance resulting from Ms. Maxwell’s mostly non-testimony … is far outweighed by the presumption of public access,” she added.