U.S. prosecutors leading the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell — the alleged longtime madam of Jeffrey Epstein — have requested that a judge refrain from making public certain documents due to an ongoing grand jury probe.
Bloomberg News notes:
“The grand jury investigation is active and ongoing,” and resulted in charges filed in July, the prosecutors said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan Friday. They didn’t provide any details of the investigation, but offered to provide them for the judge to review privately.
The revelation comes as Maxwell’s legal team seeks to use “critical new information” to prevent the release of her 2016 deposition brought as part of a now-settled lawsuit by alleged Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre the year prior.
Maxwell has been jailed in MDC Brooklyn without bail since July 2, when she was arrested at her New Hampshire home and charged with enticing minors to engage in illegal sexual activities. The 58-year-old faces up to 35 years behind bars if convicted.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges that she recruited three girls, including one who was 14, and joined Epstein in their abuse in the 1990s.
Her lawyers said earlier this week in a letter to the judge that they cannot properly investigate the charges against Maxwell because prosecutors will not tell them the identities of the three accusers.
They also said Maxwell is being treated unfairly at a federal jail in Brooklyn, where “uniquely onerous conditions” are preventing her from adequately preparing for a trial scheduled for next July.
Prosecutors say they are protecting the identities of sexual assault victims and are under no legal obligation to immediately identify them.
The AP contributed to this report.