The federal judge presiding over the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged accomplice of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, denied a request by Maxwell’s lawyers for a gag order to stop Justice Department and witness lawyers from publicly criticizing her.
Judge Alison Nathan, a judge for the Southern District of New York who served as a White House counsel under President Barack Obama, shot down the effort by Maxwell’s lawyers on Thursday, saying, “The court firmly expects that counsel for all involved parties will exercise great care to ensure compliance with this court’s local rules … and the rules of professional responsibility,” but that a judicial order limiting what prosecutors are allowed to say was not needed.
Earlier this week, Maxwell’s lawyers filed a motion with the judge “to request that the Court enter an order prohibiting the Government, its agents, and counsel for witnesses from making extrajudicial statements concerning this case” by claiming that “although Ms. Maxwell is presumed innocent, the Government, its agents, witnesses and their lawyers have made, and continue to make, statements prejudicial to a fair trial.”
Maxwell, 58, Epstein’s longtime friend and on-again, off-again girlfriend, was arrested in early July and been charged with conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually abuse underage girls, as well as perjury in depositions regarding Epstein. The British socialite has said that she “vigorously denies the charges” and pleaded not guilty. She was denied bail by Nathan earlier this month.
Epstein, 66, a registered sex offender and wealthy financier, was arrested last July on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14. He was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August, which the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide.
Maxwell’s defense team pointed to statements made by acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss and FBI special agent William Sweeney, who both criticized Maxwell for the alleged crimes she had committed, with Maxwell’s lawyers quoting the duo at length in their motion.
“Maxwell lied because the truth, as alleged, was almost unspeakable,” the defense team’s motion noted Strauss had said. “Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, and then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them. She pretended to be a woman they could trust, all the while she was setting them up to be sexually abused by Epstein and, in some cases, by Maxwell herself.”
The defense team also noted that Strauss had called the case against Maxwell “the prequel” to the charges against Epstein and that the federal prosecutor had said “Maxwell played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify, befriend, and groom minor victims for abuse” and that “in some cases, Maxwell participated in the abuse itself.”
“Although Ms. Strauss sprinkled her comments with the phrase ‘as alleged,’ she presented certain of her statements as fact,” the defense team lamented. “Regardless, after Ms. Strauss’s remarks, FBI Special Agent William Sweeney went even further.”
Maxwell’s lawyers noted that Sweeney had called Maxwell “one of the villains in this investigation” and compared her to a snake that “slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire.”
“Thus, Mr. Sweeney offers the Government’s, again flatly wrong, opinions about character and guilt while, at the same time, invoking a semi-biblical reference involving a snake slithering away to a garden in New Hampshire,” Maxwell’s team claimed. “These types of comments, which serve no compelling law enforcement or investigatory purpose, are prohibited by the local rules of this District.”
But the judge said Thursday that she believed the Justice Department and FBI were well aware of what they could and could not say without running afoul of the court’s rules.
“In light of this clear expectation, the court does not believe that further action is needed at this time to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial by an impartial jury. Accordingly, it denies the defendant’s motion without prejudice,” Nathan ruled. “But the court warns counsel and agents for the parties and counsel for potential witnesses that going forward it will not hesitate to take appropriate action in the face of violations of any relevant rules. The court will ensure strict compliance with those rules and will ensure that the defendant’s right to a fair trial will be safeguarded.”
The indictment against Maxwell said that “as a part and in furtherance of their scheme to abuse minor victims,” Maxwell and Epstein “enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residences in different states,” including Epstein’s New York City mansion, his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, his New Mexico ranch, and Maxwell’s London apartment.
Both Epstein and the United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew were longtime friends of Maxwell, and the Justice Department is seeking an interview with the British royal. Maxwell will be kept behind bars through her July 2021 trial.
