Ghislaine Maxwell seeks dismissal of charges she groomed Jeffrey Epstein victims
The charges accusing Ghislaine Maxwell of grooming Jeffery Epstein’s victims for sexual abuse in the mid-1990s are so thin on details that they must be dismissed, her attorneys argued in new court papers.
Lawyers for the British socialite said prosecutors “carefully crafted” her indictment to be so vague that she couldn’t properly prepare a defense.
“Ms. Maxwell is innocent and should not have to guess about what evidence the Government claims warrants her continual incarceration but stubbornly refuses to identify or disclose,” Maxwell’s attorney Jeffrey Pagliuca wrote in papers filed Monday night.
Maxwell’s defense team said they still don’t know exactly when and where she is alleged to have enticed Epstein’s underage victims.
“Because there are no dates provided, other than a three-year period beginning (perhaps) 27 years in the past, Ms. Maxwell cannot properly investigate where she and other witnesses were when the alleged crime supposedly occurred,” Pagliuca wrote.
He asks Manhattan Federal Judge Alison Nathan to toss four of the six counts against Maxwell for lack of specificity.
Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center on the Brooklyn waterfront since her arrest at a New Hampshire estate in July. Prosecutors said she played a critical role in Epstein’s underage sex trafficking scheme by befriending girls and normalizing abuse.
Epstein hanged himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
In separate court papers, Maxwell argued she should face a separate trial on charges she lied under oath in 2016. She’s accused of making false statements in connection with a civil suit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.
“The plaintiff in the defamation action, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, made wild and false accusations that she had been sexually trafficked by Epstein and Ms. Maxwell to dozens of famous politicians, professors, foreign leaders, and others,” Pagliuca wrote.
Additional legal challenges to Maxwell’s indictment were filed under seal. Her trial is scheduled for July.
