Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is giving up the fight to protect the identities of eight “John Does” who allegedly preyed upon the girls she groomed, leaving the decision to unmask the men to the court, according to her attorney.
The names are part of a 2015 defamation lawsuit brought against Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre, who has long claimed that the British socialite and her cohort, Jeffrey Epstein, sexually abused her as a minor, pimping her out to his high-profile friends, including Prince Andrew. Giuffre claims Maxwell aided in the abuse.
Even though the civil lawsuit was settled in 2017, Guiffre has been fighting for years to have material from it unsealed.
“Each of the listed Does has counsel who have ably asserted their own privacy rights,” Maxwell lawyer Laura Menninger wrote to Judge Loretta Preska on Jan. 12. “Ms. Maxwell therefore leaves it to the Court to conduct the appropriate review.”
However, just because Maxwell is no longer objecting does not mean all of the names will be made public any time soon. Preska will likely hear arguments from each of the anonymous men before making a decision.
The news is just the latest twist in a case that has reverberated globally.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Giuffre accusing Andrew of sexually abusing her and intentionally causing her emotional distress.
Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, has denied Giuffre’s accusations that he forced her to have sex with him more than two decades ago at Maxwell’s London home. He was stripped of his military titles and honorary patronages last week, and the palace said he will fight the allegations against him alone, “as a private citizen.”
If no settlement is reached, the trial could begin as early as September.
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Maxwell, 60, was convicted on Dec. 29 on five of six criminal counts that she helped recruit and groom young women to be sexually abused between 1994 and 2004. Sentencing is expected in June, and if her conviction is upheld, she could spend the rest of her life behind bars.
