The papers name eight people, including associates and alleged victims of the notorious pedophile
FILE PHOTO: Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference in New York, July 2, 2020 © AP / John Minchillo
A federal judge in New York has ordered the release of a trove of documents naming associates of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his long-time girlfriend now serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking. The decision came on Friday.
The documents were filed in a 2016 defamation case against Maxwell by alleged victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre. The case was later settled out of court, as was Giuffre’s 2021 lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew.
Judge Loretta Preska ruled that documents naming eight “John Does” could be released, and that public interest outweighed the privacy rights of these anonymous individuals, Fox News reported.
Two of those individuals are alleged victims of Epstein who have already gone public with their accusations. One, Emmy Taylor, filed a lawsuit this summer against a journalist who described her as a “co-conspirator” of Epstein and Maxwell. The other, Sarah Ransome, published a book about her experience as a “sex toy” on Epstein’s infamous private island.
A confirmed victim “who continues to experience trauma” will remain nameless, Preska ruled.
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One of the individuals named is Tom Pritzker, a billionaire hotel magnate and cousin of Illinois Governor J.B Pritzker. While Pritzker sued to keep his name from being released, Preska argued that he was not accused of any malicious actions and ordered it unsealed, according to Fox.
Giuffre earlier claimed that she had been forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Pritzker, a claim the billionaire denied. Giuffre also accused Epstein’s lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, of raping her while she was underage. Dershowitz denied the accusation and sued Giuffre for defamation. The pair settled out of court earlier this month, with Giuffre retracting her rape claim.
A prominent socialite and financier, Epstein was jailed in 2008 for soliciting a child for prostitution. He was arrested again in 2019 and accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, but was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell before he could be brought to trial. His death was officially ruled a suicide.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June on five charges related to the trafficking of underage girls for sex. She is currently appealing both the sentence and the guilty verdict.
