Judge to rule on unsealing records in defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell

As Ghislaine Maxwell sits in a federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York, facing allegations that she conspired with the late Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse three minor girls, a federal judge in Manhattan is set to announce her decision Thursday morning whether to make public a batch of sealed court documents from a civil lawsuit against Maxwell that settled three years ago.

The court filings in the case -- a civil defamation lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Maxwell in 2015 -- are said to contain the names of hundreds of people, some famous and some not, who socialized, traveled or worked with Epstein over the span of more than a decade. The late financier has previously been linked to a coterie of high-profile business leaders, scientists, royalty and politicians, including former President Bill Clinton and current President Donald Trump.

Attorneys for Maxwell had asked the judge -- prior to Maxwell's arrest -- to keep the records under seal, arguing that public interest in the documents is outweighed by privacy considerations and the potential impact a release of the documents could have on the criminal investigation targeting alleged accomplices of Epstein.

"The sealed testimony or summaries may inappropriately influence potential witnesses or alleged victims," Maxwell's attorney Jeffrey Pagliuca wrote last month.

Among the records now being considered for release is a 418-page transcript of one of Maxwell's multi-hour depositions in the case, which Maxwell's attorneys argue were given under an expectation of confidentiality that had been agreed to by both sides in the dispute, according to Maxwell's court filing.

"This series of pleadings concerns [Giuffre's] attempt to compel Ms. Maxwell to answer intrusive questions about her sex life," Pagliuca wrote. "The subject matter of these [documents] is extremely personal, confidential, and subject to considerable abuse by the media."

Giuffre's attorneys have argued for near-total disclosure of the sealed records and have characterized Maxwell's objections as a "blatant attempt to stall the unsealing process by creating unjustified obstacles ... that will ensure the documents in this case, which are clearly subject to a presumption of public access, never see the light of day," according to a filing last month by Giuffre's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley.

McCawley contended that Maxwell's arguments in favor of continued sealing are "especially jarring in light of the public's interest in this litigation, which involved voluminous documents and testimony about Jeffrey Epstein's transcontinental sex-trafficking operation and documents concerning various public agencies' utter failure to protect and bring justice to his victims."

The sealed records currently under review by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Preska also contain the identities of people who provided information in the case under an expectation of confidentiality, plus the names of alleged victims and individuals accused of enabling Epstein or participating in the abuse.

Earlier this year, notification letters were sent to two "John Does," anonymous individuals whose names are among several dozen that appear in just the first batch of hundreds of sealed and redacted documents, according to court records. Neither of the "John Does" filed any objections to the potential unsealing of the records.

Maxwell, 58, is the daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, who died in 1991 in what was ruled an accidental drowning incident off the coast of the Canary Islands. She met Epstein in New York following her father's death, and the two were closely linked for more than a decade.

In unsealed excerpts from her depositions in the case, Maxwell derided Giuffre as an "absolute liar." She has also denied allegations from Giuffre and other women who contend in court filings that Maxwell recruited and trained girls and young women for Epstein and facilitated their abuse.

Federal prosecutors have alleged in Maxwell's criminal case that she made false statements during her depositions in the Giuffre case, leading to two perjury charges in the indictment against her.