Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell asked a federal judge in Manhattan to stop the release of about 90,000 pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell. They argued that a new federal disclosure law is unconstitutional and that prosecutors improperly obtained materials protected by court orders.
The filing, submitted late Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, targets documents from a settled civil defamation case brought nearly ten years ago by Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein.
The Justice Department recently requested the court to lift the confidentiality requirements so the remaining documents can be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. This law, passed by Congress in December, aims to force the disclosure of documents related to Epstein.
Maxwell’s attorneys, Laura Menninger and Jeffrey Pagliuca, claimed the Justice Department obtained these documents, which were under secrecy orders, improperly during its criminal investigation of Maxwell. They informed the court that the files contain transcripts of over 30 depositions as well as private information about Maxwell’s financial and sexual matters.
In their court filing, the lawyers argued that the law requiring courts to unseal documents infringes on the judiciary’s power to manage its own records. They wrote, “Congress cannot, by statute, strip this Court of the power or relieve it of the responsibility to protect its files from misuse.”
This conflict arises amid the Justice Department’s broader effort to release and unseal many Epstein-related documents. Some materials from the Giuffre-Maxwell civil case have already been made public after a federal appeals court ordered the release of certain documents from the discovery phase, while other parts remain sealed.
The government has also posted court records online as part of this effort, warning that some of the material could still contain sensitive information, even after review and editing. The Justice Department has asked the public to report any information that should not have been posted so corrections can be made.
Epstein died in a federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping recruit, groom, and abuse teenage girls for Epstein, according to court records and previous reports.
The AP reported that the renewed release of documents related to Epstein has revealed new details about his abuse of women and teenage girls. Some victims have expressed frustration that their names and personal information appeared in released records while the names of alleged abusers were redacted.
Giuffre, who passed away last year, claimed Epstein trafficked her to other men, including the former Prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew denied her allegations and settled a civil lawsuit in 2022 but was arrested earlier this week due to information revealed in the files.
The Justice Department has not released a statement on Maxwell’s filing but it has come under fire for moving the convicted groomer to a more comfortable prison. The court has not yet announced when it will hold further briefings or hearings regarding Maxwell’s request to block the release of the documents.
Maxwell seems determined to get out of jail and has offered to exonerate former president Bill Clinton and Trump in exchange for a deal.
