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10 months ago
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GHISLAINE Maxwell said Prince Andrew DID visit Jeffrey Epstein’s “paedo island” – and moaned “questions about the Prince go on and on”.
Prince Andrew is among 170 people whose redacted names are in unsealed court documents about Epstein.
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AFP
Jae Donnelly
GettyThe order for the files to be released was given by New York judge Loretta Preska in relation to the 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.
The first documents to emerge include an email sent by Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the email, Maxwell writes: “I can’t even see what life after press hell even looks like.
“Statements that don’t address all just lead to more questions. What is my relationship to Clinton? Andrew? On and on.”
In her deposition, Maxwell said Andrew only ever visited Epstein’s island once.
She added that no girls were present during the prince’s visit – only female staff.
Maxwell also said under oath that she ‘did not recall’ being in London with Virginia Giuffre and Andrew – despite photographs showing the three together.
In another round of her deposition, Maxwell also denied that Bill Clinton ever visited Epstein’s island.
But she said Clinton did have a meal on Epstein’s plane – and that she knew the former US President’s longtime personal aide Doug Band, who claims Clinton visited the island.
Asked if she had a relationship with Band, Maxwell said: “We are talking about adult consensual relationships, it’s off the record.”
Names of Epstein and Maxwell’s victims, associates and alleged co-conspirators will continue to be made public as part of the document dump, according to Preska’s order.
Investor Glenn Dubin is the first name to appear, in a transcript of a taped deposition with Maxwell.
Maxwell was asked if Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg had ever been asked to massage Dubin.
The list is expected to include names of people with close ties to Epstein such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former Israeli PM Ehud Barak.
There is no suggestion that any of those named are accused of any wrongdoing.
The new files will include emails, legal documents, depositions and more relating to Epstein and Maxwell.
Only Epstein and Maxwell have been charged over the alleged sexual abuse of dozens of young girls in his Upper East Side townhouse and his waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.
Prince Andrew accusser Ms Giuffre launched a legal battle against him in 2021 – accusing him of sexually abusing her at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion and raping her when she was 17.
She also alleged in court documents she was recruited by Maxwell, 61, as a teenage “sex slave” for Epstein.
Ms Giuffre filed a defamation lawsuit in 2015 which was settled – but some of those involved in the trial were identified in the ruling through links to interviews they had previously given.
Judge Preska cited this as a reason for why their identities should not remain sealed.
She ruled there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal the names of more than 150 “John and Jane Does” mentioned in the court filings relating to Epstein.
Media sued to have the documents made public and they have been released on a rolling basis since 2019.
Today’s unsealing is the eighth and likely final release from the 2015 defamation case.
Of the dozens of documents being released, 67 concern Johanna Sjoberg and relate to the defamation case brought by Ms Giuffre – who claims Andrew had sex with her when she was 17.
Ms Sjoberg also claims that in March 2001, when she was 21, Andrew groped her breast at Epstein’s New York mansion while playing with a Spitting Image puppet of himself.
Ms Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in 2021 for battery and infliction of emotional distress.
They settled in February 2022 for a reported £10million, though he has always denied the allegations against him and claimed he could not recall ever meeting Ms Giuffre.
Epstein killed himself in 2019 while he awaited trial.
Maxwell, 62, is serving 20 years for sex trafficking.
English (US)