Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer once urged her to speak out to avoid what she called “reputational suicide” – even though billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein wanted her to remain silent. Even so, court documents released this week show.
Maxwell's British legal representative, Philip Burden, denies accusations that Maxwell was involved in Epstein's sex trafficking and labels accuser Virginia Giuffre a liar. After making the statement, he did not say anything to her to mount a stronger defense against her.
“I understand why JE doesn't want this. It may not suit him, but he's already toast,” Baden wrote in a 2015 email to Maxwell about Epstein. I called them by their initials and wrote them.
“We cannot sit back and allow ourselves to become co-conspirators,” Baden argued.
Epstein Giuffre made sensational claims to investors at the time in a federal lawsuit filed by his victims against him, and Maxwell feared she too would be blamed. Was.
Maxwell, who was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021 for aiding and abetting Epstein's trafficking of young women and girls, sent a message of anguish over her ties to President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. , I wondered what strategy was best to save myself. others.
In January 2015, Ms Maxwell wrote to her lawyer and publicist: “I have no understanding of defamation and other legal risks and would prefer not to be drawn into a lawsuit against me by anyone.'' I don't want to,” he wrote. I try to stay out of litigation and avoid having to hire a lawyer for years getting lost in the legal nightmare of the United States. ”
“You have to stand up and deny the charges, or you will be branded guilty by the association, which could lead to further investigation or worse… What am I doing? “I know what to do, and that is to cry out my innocence,” Baden insisted.
While Maxwell was trying to figure it out, she was also emailing Epstein.
“What have you decided to do?” Epstein emailed her at the time.
“Ask the press to investigate whether Mr. Clinton was there. Challenge the press,” he told her nearly two weeks later.
Mr. Maxwell obviously decided not to say anything more, but it was too late. Giuffre filed a defamation suit against the company nine months later, in September 2015.
These emails are part of a large body of documents filed in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was settled a long time ago, but it's back in the news this week. Hundreds of documents were released, including key figures such as Prince Andrew and Stephen Hawking, which contained numerous references to former President Bill Clinton.
Her lawyer, Arthur Aidala, who spoke to her on Friday, said Ms Maxwell was satisfied with the destruction of the documents.
“All she really wants is for more documents to be unsealed and made public, because the more documents that come to light, the more evidence that she was wrongly convicted. It becomes even clearer,” Aidala said.
“What she's very focused on and what we're working on is her appeal. These allegations have nothing to do with that…One of the things she's consistently maintained is that , the more paperwork there is, the more documents the court releases, the more satisfied she is that the conviction is on track to be overturned.”
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
