Mannat Saini, Pune
In the 2015 lawsuit, Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced as a co-conspirator alongside Jeffrey Epstein, during which the courts held back deposition documents in the case. In a recent appeal, Judge Loretta Preska ordered that these documents be made available in the public domain. 3025 pages of transcripts and depositions have been released to the public so far, pointing towards elite involvement in the alleged sex trafficking of minors.
Some of the big names mentioned in the papers are Prince Andrew of Britain, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Stephen Hawking, among others. While the association of these individuals with industrialist turned sex offender Jeffery Epstein is publicly known, their involvement or support thereof in his crimes has not been established. The judge overseeing the lawsuit claims that this clears up the involvement of multiple individuals.
These documents contain “hundreds of pages of depositions, incident reports, court filings, emails, and other documents, including the names of witnesses, accusers, members of Epstein’s staff, members of law enforcement, and others.” (CBS News)
Legal Affairs Reporter Lucia Osborne Crawley, who is currently working on her book about Maxwell, has said that these documents were not released to the public to protect the names of the high profile individuals. However, the documents have been released approximately 10 years after the original trial, indicating a positive change in the federal system. She believes that the court is taking “such sexual offenses, especially against minors, more seriously than before.”
Jeffrey Epstein was a financier living in the South Palm Beach area of Florida when he was charged with “solicitation of a minor for prostitution.” It was not until 2015 that Guiffre (the victim) filed federal charges against him. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial in jail. However, his accomplice Maxwell was prosecuted over the lawsuit and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
The documents being unsealed are from the same lawsuit that was being concealed to protect individuals. However, the Miami Herald’s appeal has forced the court to release them into the public domain.