Ghislaine Maxwell ‘wasting court’s time to delay release of bombshell court docs’, Epstein victim Virginia Roberts says
GHISLAINE Maxwell is wasting a New York court's time by requesting a delay to the release of new court documents, Virginia Roberts's lawyer has claimed.
The claim comes after a judge ruled last month that a series of documents from a defamation lawsuit brought against Maxwell by Roberts in 2015 should be unsealed.
Maxwell had long fought the release of five documents, totally 94 pages, on the grounds that they contained "extremely personal” information.
Many of the pages had previously been released, but Maxwell's lawyers said those that remained sealed contained answers to "intrusive questioning" about her sex life.
Judge Loretta Preska ruled that Maxwell’s concerns were “far outweighed” by the need for public access.
Maxwell is currently being held in New York awaiting trial on charges of enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children, and perjury.
She is accused of playing a central role in the abuse of underage girls carried out by former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, though denies all wrongdoing.
On August 3, the court handling the unsealing of the documents asked both Maxwell and Roberts's teams to submit “suggestions for streamlining the unsealing process” and “their proposed next set of docket entries to be reviewed for potential unsealing.”
On August 10, Maxwell's responded by requesting a “stay of the unsealing process [for the court documents] for approximately three weeks”, claiming that "critical new information" had come to light on August 7.
Responding to the letter, Roberts's team asked the court to reject the request outright.
"Maxwell’s decision to request a stay based solely on vague allusions to 'critical new information' illustrates her disregard for the Court’s time," they wrote.
They added that the request demonstrates Maxwell's "willingness to engage in dilatory conduct to thwart the unsealing process".
"Absent any description of what her 'critical new information' is, the Court should deny Maxwell’s request without prejudice to renewal," they said.
"Any renewed request for a stay should be accompanied by a coherent
explanation of how any 'new information' she received... justifies interfering with the unsealing process.
"For the foregoing reasons, the Court should proceed with the unsealing process [and] set a briefing schedule for the next set of sealed motions."
The documents were originally submitted after Roberts sued Maxwell because Maxwell had accused her of lying.
Roberts has alleged she suffered years of abuse after meeting Maxwell and being introduced to Epstein in the summer of 2000.
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Maxwell was arrested at a New Hampshire property at the start of last month, and was later denied bail after prosecutors successfully argued that she was a flight risk.
She is scheduled to stand trial in July 2021, and faces 35 years if convicted.
