A federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily blocked the unsealing of documents relating to the defamation lawsuit filed against Ghislaine Maxwell by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre until she has a chance to appeal the ruling releasing the documents, the New York Post reported.
US District Court Judge Loretta Preska agreed late Wednesday to delay the release of documents until Monday, unless the Circuit Court order them to remain sealed.
Preska ordered the unsealing last week, as CrimeOnline previously reported, and gave Maxwell a week to file an appeal. The records include Maxwell’s lengthy deposition and email exchanges between her and Epstein. The documents are also expected to afford a view into other possible accomplices.
Giuffre accused Maxwell of participating in the abuse, allegedly forcing Giuffre to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was a teen. She sued Maxwell for defamation in 2015 after the 58-year-old British socialite accused Giuffre of fabricating the allegations. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2017.
The Circuit Court had already ordered some documents from the lawsuit unsealed, and the first tranche was released on August 9, 2019, the day before Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell of an apparent suicide while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Earlier this month, Maxwell was arrested at a luxury hideaway in New Hampshire and is facing six federal counts accusing her or recruiting minor victims for Epstein to sexually abuse. She is awaiting trail in a Brooklyn federal detention center.
In her memo on Wednesday, Preska also rejected a request from Maxwell’s attorneys that she reconsider her ruling ordering the release.
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[Featured image: Ghislaine Maxwell in 2014/Corredor99/MediaPunch /IPX via AP]
