Jeffrey Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell to reward anyone who could discredit teen rape accuser
Jeffery Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell to "reward" anyone who could discredit claims he held a pedophile orgy on his private Caribbean island, newly-unsealed court documents revealed.
Ms Maxwell denied that she ever issued such rewards as suggested by Epstein in an email dated 12 January 2015.
"You can issue a reward to any of Virginia's friends, aquaints, (sic) family, that come forward to help prove her allegations are false," Epstein wrote.
“The strongest is the dinner and the new version of the Virgin Islands that practised in an underage orgy.”
The email was revealed in a deposition detailing Ms Maxwell's relationship with Epstein relating to a now-settled civil defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, only unsealed and made public on Thursday.
When questioned if she had offered any such rewards to Ms Giuffre's family or friends to contradict her story, Ms Maxwell said "absolutely not" and that she had no idea if Epstein had either.
"I don't know who Virginia's friends or family are and I have not contacted anybody related to her in any way, shape or form," Ms Maxwell said.
Ms Roberts sued Epstein and Ms Maxwell in 2015 for defamation after he said her allegations of being sexually trafficked to people, including Prince Andrew, was a lie.
Prince Andrew has denied any involvement with Ms Giuffre and Buckingham Palace issued a statement denying the allegations on behalf of Prince Andrew in 2015.
The 2016 deposition is part of US prosecutors' case against the 58-year-old British socialite, who is accused of helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sexual acts in the mid-1990s.
The unsealed transcript shows that Epstein and Ms Maxwell discussed waging a public relations campaign against Ms Giuffre and their media response to her claims.
In an email from March 2011, Ms Maxwell wrote to Epstein under the subject line “Daily Mail” and discussing a letter to the editor about the “complex age of consent” in Florida.
“We should think about the letter to the editor. School can be university. Age of consent in Florida is complex. See below,' the email said.
The forward email below said: 'If you are 16 years old, a sexual relationship with someone between 18 and 24 is legal in Florida. Two persons between 16 and 24, Florida statute 794.05. A person 24 years or of age or older who engages in sexual activity with a person 16 or 17 years of age commits a felony in the second degree. So as soon as you turn 16 you are able to have sexual relations and you can have sexual relations with a minor under the age of 18 until your 24th birthday.”
When asked why she was concerned with the age of consent in Florida, Ms Maxwell said she wasn’t concerned and that someone sent her those details for “informational purposes”, and that it was to make them aware of what would happen based on the Florida statute.
“Virginia in '11 was claiming she was 15 and we thought she was 17. I didn't know what the statutes were in Florida and I think he was just trying to be helpful so I would know,' she said in the deposition.
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