Ghislaine Maxwell lawyers say accusers might misuse criminal evidence
Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell have asked a judge to stop her accusers from using evidence in the criminal case to boost civil lawsuits by posting material to the internet.
The lawyers say attorneys for women who claim Maxwell recruited them for Jeffrey Epstein and abused them should be subject to the same secrecy rules as prosecutors and Maxwellâs defence lawyers.
The lawyers said it was one topic that prosecutors and defence lawyers for the British socialite could not agree on as they composed a proposed agreement to keep evidence secret before a trial scheduled in Manhattan federal court for July next year.
The proposed order, submitted to a judge on Monday, would prevent prosecutors and Maxwellâs lawyers from releasing any information to the internet or elsewhere, including ânude, partially nude or otherwise sexualised images, videos or other depictions of individualsâ.
The joint protective order is routine in sex abuse cases, but the lawyers said in a letter to the judge that prosecutors have refused to agree that witnesses in the trial and their lawyers should be subject to the secrecy rules.
Maxwellâs lawyers cited current civil litigation between Maxwell and âmany of the governmentâs potential witnessesâ, saying numerous potential witnesses and their lawyers have already publicly commented about the case.
âThere is a substantial concern that these individuals will seek to use discovery materials to support their civil cases and future public statements,â the lawyers wrote.
Prosecutors said they will respond on Tuesday.
Maxwell, 58, who has been held without bail since her arrest several weeks ago, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she recruited and aided the abuse of three girls by Epstein in the 1990s.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail last August as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges related to the abuse of women and girls in Manhattan and Florida in the early 2000s.
