Judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's latest request to delay unsealing of explosive court docs after her legal team claimed they unearthed 'critical new information'
A judge has shot down Ghislaine Maxwell's latest attempt to delay the unsealing of potentially explosive documents on Wednesday after her legal team claimed they had discovered 'critical new information' that would impact both her criminal sex trafficking case and her civil defamation case.
New York judge Loretta Preska denied Maxwell's request, writing in a two-page order that Maxwell 'knows, her ipse dixit does not provide compelling grounds for relief', using the Latin term that means making an assertion without proof.
On Monday night, the former British socialite had attempted to delay the unsealing of documents pertaining to a defamation suit brought against her by Jeffrey Epstein's 'sex slave' Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2015.
Her legal team did not go into detail about what they may have discovered - only disclosing they learned of the information last Friday and that it was subject to a court protective order.
Judge Preska had already ordered a trove of court papers unsealed last month and there will be more documents unsealed in the coming weeks as nonparties and parties in the papers are given due process to object to the unsealing.
The 58-year-old had fought tooth and nail to keep the recent documents under seal, especially her deposition and that of a Jane Doe's. In a flurry of last-minute filings, she managed to keep the bombshell depositions secret for a bit longer.
A judge has shot down Ghislaine Maxwell's latest attempt to delay the unsealing of potentially explosive documents on Wednesday after her legal team claimed they had discovered 'critical new information' that would impact both her criminal sex trafficking case and her civil defamation case
New York judge Loretta Preska denied Maxwell's request, writing in a two-page order Maxwell 'knows, her ipse dixit does not provide compelling grounds for relief', using the Latin term that means making an assertion without proof. Last month, Preska ordered a trove of documents unsealed pertaining to a defamation suit brought against Maxwell by Jeffrey Epstein's 'sex slave' Virginia Roberts Giuffre (right)
New York judge Loretta Preska denied Maxwell's request, writing in a two-page order that Maxwell 'knows, her ipse dixit does not provide compelling grounds for relief', using the Latin term that means making an assertion without proof
Maxwell's request came before her team complained about conditions inside the 'hell-hole' Brooklyn jail where she is being kept ahead of her trial next summer.
She was recently taken off suicide watch, but is being subjected to multiple searches each day and is under constant watch of the guards, her lawyers said in a separate filing on Monday night.
The searches and surveillance should be stopped, her lawyers said, while requesting that she be taken out of solitary confinement and placed in with other prisoners.
Her legal team say she is only being subjected to the 'onerous' conditions because her former boyfriend Epstein died while awaiting trial, in what was ruled a suicide.
They argue she 'has never been suicidal and was never diagnosed as exhibiting risk factors for suicide,' but is still woken up every few hours during the night and forced to wear special clothing.
She has also been forced to undergo body scans, lawyer Chris Everdell wrote in a letter to the judge and is observed even while calling her attorneys.
'Ms. Maxwell is being treated worse than other similarly situated pretrial detainees, which significantly impacts her ability to prepare a defense,' he said.
Maxwell's request came before her team complained about conditions inside the 'hell-hole' Brooklyn jail where she is being kept ahead of her trial next summer. Her legal team say she is only being subjected to the 'onerous' conditions because Epstein died while awaiting trial, in what was ruled a suicide
On Monday night, the former British socialite had attempted to delay the unsealing of documents pertaining to a defamation suit brought against Maxwell by Jeffrey Epstein 's 'sex slave' Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2015
His letter asks that Maxwell 'be released to the general population and be granted the privileges given to other pretrial detainees'.
Everdell also requested for her to be given more computer time in order to review the reams of documents relating to her case.
Further, his team asked that she be given the names of three anonymous women who are accusing her of grooming and abusing them.
'Maxwell cannot prepare for or receive a fair trial without this information,' her lawyers argued.
Jeffrey Epstein was initially charged with sex trafficking in Florida in 2006, before being hit with a 53-page FBI indictment the following year.
In 2008, he was offered a controversial plea deal that saw him sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting underage prostitutes.
He was then rearrested in July 2019, charged with sex trafficking and moved to a maximum security jail in Manhattan.
On August 10 he was found unconscious in his cell with injuries to his neck and later died in what was officially ruled a suicide.
She was recently taken off suicide watch, but is being subjected to multiple searches each day and is under constant watch of the guards, her lawyers said in a separate filing on Monday night. Pictured: Brooklyn's MDC where Maxwell is being held
Epstein had been on suicide watch but was taken off just days before his death, on the condition that he be placed with a cellmate and constantly monitored.
But the day before his body was found his cellmate was moved out and not replaced, and guards failed to carry out checks on him.
Maxwell, who is accused of acting as Epstein's 'madam' by finding young women for him to abuse and then 'training' them to comply with his desires, was arrested on July 2 at a mansion she owned in New Hampshire.
The socialite - who once mixed with celebrities, presidents and royalty at high-class parties - was moved on July 6 to Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, once described by a judge as 'like a third-world country'
Guards at the jail, which is different to the one where Jeffrey Epstein died last year, have been jailed for raping female prisoners, while the jail also lost power for an entire week during winter last year - leaving inmates locked in freezing, dark cells.
In total Maxwell is facing six counts - four relating to child sex trafficking, and two of perjury for lying under oath about the trafficking during a previous lawsuit.
If convicted on all charges, she is facing up to 35 years behind bars.
