NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s effort to keep under wraps an excerpt from a 2016 deposition that she fears could threaten her criminal trial on charges she aided the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and committed perjury.
In a ruling on Monday, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan said Maxwell’s privacy interest in the 20 lines of testimony was “minimal,” given that they related only to massages and not private sexual activity of consenting adults, and the public’s right of access outweighed her interest.
“There is no reason not to unseal this portion of testimony,” Preska wrote. “While the court acknowledges Ms. Maxwell’s interest in a fair criminal trial, Ms. Maxwell can argue all her points to the presiding judge in her criminal trial, as she has already.”
Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)
