Ghislaine Maxwell asked a New York federal judge on Tuesday to deny the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from its investigation into her and late billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyers for Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for grooming and abusing Epstein’s underage victims, said the transcripts being released to the public could jeopardize Maxwell’s legal rights. Two judges have given Maxwell, a representative for Epstein, and the victims a deadline of Tuesday to respond to the Trump administration’s filings, which seek to have these private documents unsealed, according to The New York Times.
“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,” Maxwell’s lawyers wrote. “Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable and her due process rights remain.”
According to The New York Times, Maxwell’s attorneys also claimed she became a “scapegoat” for Epstein’s crimes following his death in 2019. Epstein was found hanged in his cell in New York while awaiting trial for sex trafficking; his death was ruled a suicide.
Last week, Maxwell was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security, dormitory-style facility in Texas after the Bureau of Prisons lowered her status to allow it. Normally such a move might happen when an inmate serving time for crimes like Maxwell’s comes closer to the end of a sentence; Maxwell has only just started hers. The move came about a week after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly questioned her about the Epstein case and her knowledge of his activities.
The questioning took place over two days, amid calls for the Trump administration to release all files related to the controversial case. However, the Justice Department said no more information would be released about the case.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to a slew of officials — including current Attorney General Pam Bondi, former President Bill Clinton, and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. CBS reported that lawmakers are seeking the Clintons’ testimony due to their ties to Epstein and Maxwell in the early 2000s.
The committee already subpoenaed Maxwell and denied her request for immunity. They plan to get her deposition on August 11.
[Feature Photo: AP Photo/John Minchillo, File]
