Judge bans lawyers from identifying Epstein abuse victims

NEW YORK — The judge presiding over the criminal case against a British socialite charged with recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse said Friday that her attorneys are not permitted to publicly identify accusers even if they’ve spoken in a public forum.

“Not all accusations or public statements are equal,” U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan wrote in her ruling in the case facing Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Deciding to participate in or contribute to a criminal investigation or prosecution is a far different matter than simply making a public statement ‘relating to’ Ms. Maxwell or Jeffrey Epstein, particularly since such a statement might have occurred decades ago and have no relevance to the charges in this case.”

She said the women “still maintain a significant privacy interest that must be safeguarded.”

Prosecutors had asked Nathan to block Maxwell’s lawyers from publicly identifying the women unless they identified themselves as participants in the criminal case. Otherwise, prosecutors said, the women may be harassed or intimidated and become reluctant to cooperate with the government.

Nathan’s order came hours after newly unsealed court documents provided a fresh glimpse into a fierce civil court fight between Maxwell, who was Epstein’s former girlfriend, and one of the women who accused the couple of sexual abuse.

The documents released late Thursday were from a now-settled defamation lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Giuffre claimed in the suit and other litigation that Maxwell recruited her in 2000 to be a sexual servant to Epstein. She said the couple subsequently pressured her into having sex with numerous rich or notable men, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, U.S. politicians, wealthy entrepreneurs, a famous scientist and fashion designer.

Maxwell, and all of the accused men, have denied those allegations for years.

Among the newly released documents were emails Maxwell and Epstein exchanged in January 2015, when Giuffre’s allegations were getting a new round of media attention.

One email, sent from Epstein’s email address but written in Maxwell’s voice, appeared to be a draft statement or set of talking points for Maxwell to use in defending herself. It said she had been the target of “false allegations of impropriety and offensive behavior that I abhor and have never ever been party to.”

Epstein killed himself last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was recently arrested on federal charges that she recruited at least three girls, including one as young as 14, for Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s. Prosecutors said she also joined in the abuse.

Maxwell is jailed awaiting trial in New York.

Many of the documents unsealed by the court Thursday had been available publicly before. They include accusations that: Epstein and Maxwell allegedly used the late financier’s private Caribbean island to host “constant” orgies.

Also Friday, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said: “There are no new accusations against me in the documents I got unsealed. All her accusations were made in suits she filed years ago. They were false then and now, as shown by her emails and manuscript that prove I never met her.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3141uis