Ghislaine Maxwell's personal financial records could expose the Clintons. Photo / Getty Images
Ghislaine Maxwell's personal financial records could expose the Clintons. Photo / Getty Images
Ghislaine Maxwell's personal financial records, including possible connections to the Clinton Foundation, are set to be released after the British socialite lost a bid to keep the documents sealed.
Maxwell had claimed release of the information would prejudice her upcoming criminal trial and become the subject of tabloid fodder, however,a New York judge ruled against her on Thursday (local time).
The documents were originally filed in connection with alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre's civil lawsuit against Maxwell.
The defamation suit was settled in 2015, but Giuffre's lawyers have fought a protracted legal battle to release files that may contain allegations against other public figures from Epstein's elite social circles.
Giuffre's legal team sought Maxwell's tax returns, balance sheets and financial documents for companies she controlled.
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Maxwell's lawyers had sought in the civil trial to limit any disclosure of her finances to just her net worth, saying the "scope of [Ms Giuffre's] requests are overly broad and obviously intended to harass and embarrass Maxwell".
Lawyers for Giuffre, who claims she was recruited as a teenager by Maxwell and later raped by Prince Andrew, hoped the financial records would help inform any settlement they would reach.
Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested over allegations she was part of Jeffrey Epstein child sex operation. Photo / Getty Images
Giuffre demanded Maxwell produce all documents concerning "any source of funding for the TerraMar Project or any other not-for-profit entities with which you are associated, including but not limited to, funding received from the Clinton Global Initiative, the Clinton Foundation (a/k/a William J Clinton Foundation, a/k/a/ the Bill, Hilary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation),and the Clinton Foundation Climate Change Initiative," according to court filings, which are expected to be released in full in the coming weeks.
Maxwell, 59, founded TerraMar Project, a self-described environmental nonprofit organisation, in 2012. Its now-defunct website trumpeted the support of well-connected "founding citizens" like Richard Branson.
The tax returns of the TerraMar Project show that between 2013 and 2017 the organisation received $196,000 in public support and paid out, in various expenses, more than $600,000, requiring loans from its president, Maxwell, totalling $549,093. They gave out no money in grants during that time.
It's public knowledge that Ghislaine Maxwell is close to former President Bill Clinton. Photo / Getty Images
Questions have swirled around Bill Clinton's connection to Epstein. The disgraced financier and his one-time girlfriend Maxwell were photographed at the White House as guests of then-President Clinton in 1993.
Flight logs appear to show the former US president had flown at least 26 times on Epstein's private plane.
The Clinton Foundation confirmed in a statement last year that Clinton had taken four trips on Epstein's plane in 2002 and 2003.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Clinton or the foundation.
In ruling, US District Judge Loretta Preska said on Thursday she was not persuaded by Maxwell's argument that "unsealing of these materials implicates her right to a fair trial in her pending criminal case", which is due to start in November.
"It is not the job of the court to police press coverage," Preska told the court. "Tabloid fodder doesn't diminish the importance of materials that could reasonably affect the court's decision on a motion."
She ordered the records be released, with appropriate redactions to protect alleged victims, in the next two weeks.
Maxwell, who is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, appealed for bail last year. In rejecting her bond application, the Manhattan court ruled that the socialite's finances were too opaque and she remained a serious flight risk.
