Ghislaine Maxwell says releasing the Epstein files would harm her chances of a retrial. Photo / Getty Images
Ghislaine Maxwell says releasing the Epstein files would harm her chances of a retrial. Photo / Getty Images
Ghislaine Maxwell has complained that releasing the Epstein files would jeopardise her chances of being freed.
Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years for her role in trafficking teenage girls to Jeffrey Epstein, told a judge releasing transcripts from her case would harm her chances in a potential retrial.
Thesocialite, who is Epstein’s former girlfriend, is fighting to reopen her case for a retrial after several attempts failed.
She claims a juror in her 2020 trial was biased and failed to disclose they were a victim of sexual abuse. Maxwell also claims there were legal and factual failings in her prosecution and Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement should protect her from at least one charge.
US President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month that requires the release of all documents related to the convicted paedophile.
“Releasing the grand jury materials from her case, which contain untested and unproven allegations, would create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial should Ms Maxwell’s habeas petition succeed,” lawyers for Maxwell said in a court filing on Wednesday.
However, she did not go as far as to ask for their release to be blocked. Maxwell is so intrinsically linked to the Epstein case, having secured many of his victims and arranged for them to be abused by the financier, that if documents pertaining to her case were removed, it would create significant holes.
Her lawyers said she did not “take a position” on the request by prosecutors to unseal the material in response to the act signed by Trump.
Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club in the 2000s. Photo / Getty Images
Trump had previously lobbied to prevent the remaining documents from being released, describing the files as a “Democrat hoax”.
He was friends with both Maxwell and Epstein at one point and his name has cropped up several times in material relating to Epstein released by the House oversight committee, much of which is thought to be part of the Epstein files held by the Justice Department.
But in the face of a growing Republican rebellion in the House, Trump changed his stance on November 16, insisting “I don’t care” and that he had nothing to hide.
The President has repeatedly said he ended his relationship with Epstein before any criminal wrongdoing took place.
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