Newly unsealed court records indicate that longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell lied to the court about when she had last spoken with the deceased convicted sex offender as the indicted socialite tried, but failed, to be granted bail after her arrest.
Maxwell’s attorneys claimed to the court on July 10 that after Epstein’s death in his cell last August, “the media focus quickly shifted to our client — wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein — even though she’d had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade.” But thousands of pages of court records released Thursday night from a defamation case between Epstein’s alleged right-hand woman and Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused both Epstein and Maxwell of forcing her into illegal sexual activities when she was underage, included an email exchange between Epstein and Maxwell in 2015 — a far cry from 10 years ago.
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 Judge Alison Nathan of the Southern District of New York 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.
The January 2015 emails between Epstein and Maxwell appear to begin with Epstein, whose email address was [email protected], telling Maxwell, whose email was [email protected], to follow his advice on how to handle the swirling allegations about the two of them, and most of his Jan. 21, 2015, email appears to be a proposed statement written in her voice that he recommends she use.
“Since JE was charged in 2007 for solicitation of a prostitute I have been the target of outright lies, innuendo, slander, defamation and salacious gossip and harassment … false allegations of impropriety and offensive behavior that I abhor and have never been a party to,” Epstein recommended Maxwell to say. “I have never been a party in any criminal action pertaining to JE. … At the time of Jeffrey’s plea I was in a very long-term committed relationship with another man and no longer working with Jeffrey. Whilst I remained on friendly terms with him up until his plea, I have had limited contact since … I am not part of, nor did you have anything to do with, JE plea bargain. … I reserve my right to file complaint and sue for defamation and slander.”
Maxwell responded on Jan. 24, 2015, telling him: “I would appreciate it if Shelley would come out and say she was your g’friend — I think she was from end 99 to 2002.” Shelley’s identity was not immediately clear.
The next day Epstein replied: “Ok, with me, you have done nothing wrong and I would urge you to start acting like it. Go outside, head high, not as an escaping convict. Go to parties. Deal with it.”
The charging document against Maxwell alleged 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), which Maxwell “knew and intended would result in their grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse” by Epstein.
Nathan agreed with SDNY’s attorneys that Maxwell posed a flight risk because of her great wealth, extensive foreign connections, and a belief that Maxwell was not being forthcoming about her finances. Her bail was denied, and she will remain behind bars until her July 2021 trial.
Giuffre, now 36, alleges Epstein and Maxwell helped exploit her when she was underage and accused the United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew of forcing her to have sex with him at Maxwell’s home in London and at Epstein’s homes in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands when she was 17. Both Epstein and Andrew were longtime friends of Maxwell.
Maxwell and Epstein both pleaded not guilty to all charges, and Andrew has denied any wrongdoing.
