Ghislaine Maxwell 'emailed Jeffrey Epstein' in 2015 despite denying contact
31 July 2020, 11:14
Ghislaine Maxwell exchanged emails with Jeffrey Epstein despite saying she had not contacted the convicted sex offender for more than a decade, new court documents appear to show.
Dozens of documents have been newly unsealed that appear to show Maxwell's dealings with the disgraced financier.
It comes as Epstein's ex-girlfriend prepares her defence against allegations that she helped the convicted paedophile's sexual abuse of girls.
The emails were sent in January 2015, when the allegations of one of Epstein's accusers - Virginia Roberts-Giuffre - were receiving fresh media attention.
Their existence appears to contradict a claim at Maxwell's bail hearing that the two had not been in touch for more than a decade.
Among the email exchange is a conversation where the pair discuss Epstein's 2007 arrest for solicitation of prostitution and Maxwell's denial of any involvement.
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One email, sent from Epstein's address but written in Maxwell's voice, appeared to be a draft a statement or set of talking points for Maxwell to use in her defence.
It said she had been the target of "false allegations of impropriety and offensive behaviour that I abhor and have never ever been party to."
Responding to a Maxwell email a few days later, Epstein wrote: "You have done nothing wrong and I (would) urge you to start acting like it."
He suggested she go outside and hold her head high, "not as an (escaping) convict."
Other documents newly released on Thursday, many of which had previously been available to the public before, were from a now-settled defamation lawsuit filed by Ms Roberts Giuffre.
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In the suit and other litigation, she claimed that Maxwell recruited her in 2000 to be a sexual servant to Epstein and that he "100 per cent" had sex with girls as young as 15 at "Jeffrey's Island" in the US Virgin Islands.
Ms Roberts Giuffre said the couple also pressured her into having sex with a number of rich and notable men, including the Duke of York, US politicians, wealthy entrepreneurs, a famous scientist and fashion designer.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, while Maxwell, and all of the accused men, have also denied those allegations for years.
Epstein killed himself last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
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Maxwell, who is awaiting trial in New York, was recently arrested on federal charges that she recruited at least three girls, including one as young as 14, for Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s.
Ms Roberts Giuffre has told her story to the FBI over the years, but no charges were brought based on her allegations. She is not one of the three alleged victims in the current criminal case against Maxwell.
Two documents that were not released as scheduled Thursday were depositions Maxwell gave in the civil lawsuit in 2016.
US district judge Loretta A. Preska had ordered them released, but Maxwell's lawyers appealed her ruling to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Her lawyers said they should be blocked since she now faces criminal charges.