Was Ghislaine a victim? Judge questions if Jeffrey Epstein's 'madam' was victimized by the pedophile, as she presides over legal battle to release deposition containing details of Maxwell's sex life
A federal appeal court judge today questioned whether Ghislaine Maxwell 'may be a victim' of Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Rosemary Pooler appeared to suggest that Epstein may have taken advantage of the woman who was accused of being his chief recruiter.
The curious comment took place in a hearing held today to decide whether to release a deposition given by Maxwell about her sex life as part of the civil libel case brought against her.
Judge Pooler brought up the investigation done by journalist Julie Brown and the Miami Herald in 2018 that led to Epstein's arrest. She said she respected the paper's reporting.
She added that its reporting 'led to some important work in the protection of young female victims but Miss Maxwell may be a victim as well, isn't that true?'
Christine Walz, a lawyer for the Herald, told the Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in New York: 'We do not believe that is true'.
The deposition in questions is part of thousands of files that are gradually being made public as part of a defamation case brought against Maxwell by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Giuffre, perhaps the most well known of Epstein's victims, claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew - an allegation he denies -and that Maxwell groomed her.
A federal appeal court judge today questioned whether Ghislaine Maxwell 'may be a victim as well'
Judge Rosemary Pooler (pictured) appeared to suggest that Jeffrey Epstein may have taken advantage of the woman who was accused of being his chief recruiter. Judge Pooler said that she respected the investigation done by journalist Julie Brown and the Miami Herald in 2018 that led to Epstein's arrest. She said that their reporting 'led to some important work in the protection of young female victims but Miss Maxwell may be a victim as well, isn't that true?'
The exchange happened during a hearing to decide whether to release a deposition given by Maxwell, the transcript of which runs to 418 pages. Maxwell, 58, is currently in jail awaiting trial on separate criminal charges that she lured girls as young as 14 to Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997
Maxwell settled the defamation case in 2017 but media organizations applied to have the documents in the case made public and they are being released on a rolling basis.
Maxwell, 58, is currently in jail awaiting trial on separate criminal charges that she lured girls as young as 14 to Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997.
She is also charged with perjury related to a 2016 taken in the defamation case.
During a hearing at the Second Circuit, Walz was questioned by Judge Pooler after making her case for the deposition to be unsealed.
Judge Pooler, who has served on the Second Circuit since 1998, said: 'I'm very impressed with the work that Julie Brown and the Miami Herald have done in this case.
'In fact they led to some important work in the protection of young female victims but Miss Maxwell may be a victim as well, isn't that true?
Walz said: 'We do not believe that is true but whether Miss Maxwell is a victim or not is irrelevant to whether the documents at issue should be released here'.
During the hearing Maxwell's attorney Adam Mueller said that the release of a document so central to one of prosecutors' six charges in her criminal case could prejudice a jury and jeopardize her right to a fair trial.
Mueller said that the deposition 'should never have been filed' to the case and the arguments for releasing it 'don't pass muster'
Judge Jose Cabranes said that in the deposition Maxwell refused to answer questions 'about consensual sexual activities involving adults, isn't that accurate?'
Mueller said: 'Some of the questions we declined to answer but there were questions and answers given'.
He cited two parts of the deposition which he said showed there was 'affirmative testimony about intimate matters'.
The deposition is part of thousands of files that are gradually being made public as part of a defamation case brought against Maxwell by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (pictured). She is an Epstein victim who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, allegations he denies, and that Maxwell groomed her
Mueller said: 'There are cases where our client answers no to questions asking for intimate information and a denial of having engaged in certain intimate conduct is as revealing about intimate behavior as an admission to doing that conduct.
'To the extent there was I don't remember answers or I'm not going to answers or no, the questions themselves, these were leading questions that presuppose an answer and presuppose an evidentiary basis for the answer. The questions themselves were problematic.
'It's akin to a 'when did you stop beating your wife' type question and there are lots of examples of that throughout the deposition'.
Judge Cabranes asked: 'Is it fair to say your client did not deny knowledge of any activity involving underage minors, or did she?'
Mueller said: 'I'm hesitant to answer the question only because at the moment the deposition is sealed. I can try to speak in generalities to avoid revealing something that is for the moment sealed'.
Maxwell's lawyers have previously said the deposition concerns attempts to 'compel Ms Maxwell to answer intrusive questions about her sex life'.
They have called the questioning 'extremely personal, confidential and subject to considerable abuse by the media'.
The three appeal court judges reserved judgement on unsealing the deposition.
The next batch of documents to be made public will involve two figures only identified as John Doe 1 and 2 who have requested that their names be removed.
The first batch were unsealed last August and in them Giuffre named a slew of famous men who were allegedly involved in the abuse of girls by Epstien.
They included former US Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, Epstein's attorney Alan Dershowitz, billionaire financier Glenn Dubin, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the late MIT scientist Marvin Minsky and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Court papers pertaining to a 2015 deposition civil defamation case against Maxwell included a January 2015 email Epstein sent to Maxwell insisting she had 'done nothing wrong'
A separate email exchange from days earlier showed Epstein emailed Maxwell what appeared to be a court statement proclaiming her innocence, but was written from her point of view
A second tranche of documents was made public in July this year and included an email sent from Maxwell to Epstein in January 2015 when Giuffre filed a bombshell affidavit detailing her allegations.
In the message Maxwell urged Epstein to go public about a British girlfriend of his in an apparent attempt to discredit the allegations against him.
Epstein emailed Maxwell: 'You have done nothing wrong and I would urge you to start acting like it. Go outside head high not as an escaping convict'.
The latest hearing came as the New York Daily News reported that lawyers for Epstein and Maxwell's alleged victims tried to get the same prosecutors who brought charges against them to do so back in 2016.
David Boies, who represents Giuffre among other Epstein victims, pleaded with Amanda Kramer, the top human trafficking prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, four years ago.
He said that they could 'establish beyond any reasonable doubt there was a massive sex trafficking ring going on' but Kramer balked.
She reportedly said that 'this has already been looked into', referring to the 2007 plea deal Epstein reached with federal prosecutors in Florida.
Under that sweetheart arrangement Epstein served just 15 months in jail but Kramer was apparently reticent about second guessing the work of her colleagues in Florida.
It was not until the Miami Herald's report in 2018 that Epstein was finally arrested by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York in July 2019.
Epstein hanged himself weeks later while awaiting trial and Maxwell was arrested in July this year, almost a year to the day that Epstein was apprehended.
She denies all allegations against her and is due to stand trial next summer.
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