Ghislaine Maxwell requested a New York federal judge on Tuesday to reject the government’s plea to unseal grand jury transcripts from its probe into her and the late billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell’s attorneys, representing her as she serves a 20-year sentence for grooming and abusing Epstein’s underage victims, argued that making these transcripts public might compromise her legal rights. Two judges have set a Tuesday deadline for Maxwell, an Epstein representative, and the victims to respond to filings from the Trump administration, which aim to unseal these confidential documents, as reported by The New York Times.
“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,” her lawyers stated. “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.”
Maxwell’s legal team also asserted, as per The New York Times, that she became a “scapegoat” for Epstein’s crimes after his death in 2019. Epstein was discovered hanged in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking; his death was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell was recently transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security, dormitory-style facility in Texas after the Bureau of Prisons reclassified her status to allow the move. This kind of transfer is typically seen near the end of an inmate’s sentence for crimes like those committed by Maxwell; however, she has only just begun serving her sentence. The transfer occurred about a week following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s reported questioning of her about the Epstein case and her awareness of his activities.
The interrogation lasted two days, amidst calls for the Trump administration to disclose all documents related to the high-profile case. The Justice Department, however, declared that no additional information would be released regarding 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]
