A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the unsealing of previously unseen documents in a civil case against Ghislaine Maxwell, according to court papers.
Judge Loretta Preska ordered the release of five collections of documents that relate to a seven-hour, 418-page deposition Maxwell gave as part of a now-settled defamation lawsuit filed against her in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre.
The papers are among a trove of secret filings that were ordered unsealed by Preska in a court hearing last week. They’ll be posted to a public docket by Thursday, according to Tuesday’s court filing.
Preska granted Maxwell’s legal team a one-week stay on the release so they can file an appeal at the hearing last Thursday.
Giuffre sued the British socialite for defamation after Maxwell claimed that Giuffre had made up the sexual abuse allegations against her and multi-millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most vocal accusers, has claimed that Maxwell forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew, one of Epstein’s close pals. The disgraced royal has denied the allegations.
Maxwell was arrested earlier this month on sex-trafficking and perjury charges and ordered held without bail until her case goes to trial. She’s pleaded not guilty.
The former socialite is accused of procuring underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse at his properties in the US and in England.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg