Ghislaine Maxwell denies knowledge of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, court transcripts show
Ghislaine Maxwell said she never witnessed “inappropriate underage activities” by Jeffrey Epstein, according to unsealed court documents from a 2016 deposition that the British socialite fought to keep secret.
The deposition was made in a now-settled civil defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who has said Epstein kept her as a “sex slave” with Maxwell’s assistance.
Maxwell has denied all charges of playing a role in the “sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls” under Epstein’s watch.
She has also pleaded not guilty to perjury for having denied involvement in any such scheme when she gave her deposition under oath.
Unsealed court documents that the British socialite fought hard to keep under wraps showed she previously was asked questions about her relationship with Epstein, an ex-boyfriend and convicted sex offender who employed Maxwell to help run his properties.
“I have never seen anybody have sexual intercourse with Jeffrey, ever,” the deposition transcript said. “I never saw any inappropriate underage activities with Jeffrey ever.”
The freshly unveiled court documents also showed Maxwell denying Giuffre’s allegations that she was sexually abused by Epstein at the hands of Maxwell.
The deposition read: “I never ever at any single time at any point ever at all participated in anything with Virginia and Jeffrey. And for the record, she is an absolute total liar.”
US District Judge Loretta Preska yesterday ordered that a transcript of Maxwell’s testimony and other documents relating to her close relationship with Epstein be released by today.
The judge ignored arguments from Maxwell’s lawyers that releasing the documents would violate her constitutional right against self-incrimination and her right to a fair trial.
“If the unsealing order goes into effect, it will forever let the cat out of the bag,” and “intimate, sensitive, and personal information” about Maxwell might “spread like wildfire across the Internet,” her lawyers said in August.
It comes after Epstein killed himself aged 66 in August last year in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The disgraced financier, who had previously escaped federal prosecution by pleading guilty in 2008 to Florida state prostitution charges, is accused of rape, sex trafficking and sexual assault on minors by a slew of women.
Epstein’s downfall flung some of the word’s most high-profile figures into the spotlight, including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.
Maxwell testified that she flew on Epstein’s planes with Clinton but said she would not characterise the two men as friends or acquaintances, adding that she was never on one of Epstein’s private islands with Clinton.
“One of [the] lies [Giuffre] told was that President Clinton was on the island where I was present. Absolutely 1000 per cent that is a flat out total fabrication and lie,” Maxwell said under oath, in a deposition that lasted nine and a half hours.
Maxwell, who is behind bars in a Brooklyn jail as she awaits trial in July 2021, had her appeal to be released on bail rejected after being labelled “an unacceptable flight risk”.
Maxwell told lawyers that her job with Epstein included hiring assistants, architects, decorators, cooks, cleaners, gardeners, pool people and pilots as part of the upkeep of his six homes, according to the deposition transcript.
“A very small part of my job was from time to time to find adult professional massage therapists for Jeffrey,” the documents said.
Quizzed over whether she formally hired them, Maxwell said: “When I meant hire, I didn’t mean hire in the way you are doing it. What I say is that I went to spas and I met people and if they did home visits, Jeffrey would then, in fact, hire them. I’m not responsible for hiring someone. And they were not full-time, so it’s not a correct characterisation.”
Several names in the transcript of the deposition were blacked out.
Giuffre has said she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with multiple associates of the former financier, including Prince Andrew when she was 17 years old.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied all allegations.
Sigrid McCawley, Giuffre’s lawyer, described this week’s court ruling as an “important step towards vindicating the public interest in understanding the scope and scale of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring and the efforts made to conceal it”.