Ghislaine Maxwell Participated In Jeffrey Epstein’s Abuse, New Documents Allege

Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed Ghislaine Maxwell sexually abused underage girls as young as 15 years old, according to 600 pages of documents newly unsealed Thursday night. Giuffre, who previously said she was recruited into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring by Maxwell as a teenager, also alleged Maxwell and Epstein pressured her into being sexually abused by numerous powerful men, including Prince Andrew, defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, and U.S. politicians, among others. Both the prince and Dershowitz have denied these accusations. 

The documents were ordered unsealed on July 23 by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska and stem from a defamation suit Maxwell previously settled in 2017 with Giuffre, who claimed Maxwell recruited her into Epstein’s circle as a teenager to work as a traveling masseuse. Maxwell would send Giuffre to be sexually abused by men under the guise of giving them a massage, Giuffre said. "I think there are plenty of other witnesses that can attest to what massage actually means. And I'm telling you that Ghislaine told me to...give him a massage, which means sex." 

In newly unsealed sworn testimony, which Giuffre gave in 2016, she described Maxwell and Epstein working as a team. “You have to understand that [Epstein] and [Maxwell] are joined at the hip, okay?” said Giuffre. “They trafficked me to many people. And to be honest, there is people I could name, and then there’s people that are just a blur. There was so much happening.” Later in her testimony, Giuffre said Maxwell “trained me as a sex slave,” and added, “she’s the one who abused me [physically and mentally] on a regular basis.”

The documents further detail Giuffre’s accusations that Maxwell herself participated in abusing girls estimated between the ages of 15 and 21, “virtually every day when I was around her.” She later described sexual encounters at Epstein’s Virgin Islands estate, “where orgies were a constant thing that took place,” and alleged she was made to perform oral sex on Maxwell in Epstein’s presence. 

Giuffre also described Epstein arranging for other young girls to be sent to various locations. Epstein allegedly had three 12-year-old girls brought to him from France as a "birthday present" from Jean-Luc Brunel, then a modelling scout. She went on to detail a visit from former President Bill Clinton, who she said stayed at Epstein’s private residence on Little Saint James island where he visited with Maxwell, Epstein, and “two young girls” present. 

She said she remembered wondering why Clinton was on the island. "I remember asking Jeffrey what's Bill Clinton doing here kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said, well he owes me a favour," Giuffre told her attorneys in 2011. "He never told me what favours they were. I never knew. I didn't know if he was serious. It was just a joke.”

In addition to multiple lengthy depositions from Giuffre, the documents included communications between Maxwell and Epstein as recent as 2015. Maxwell's attorneys have argued that she hadn’t been in contact with Epstein in over a decade. The January 2015 emails show Epstein telling Maxwell she has “done nothing wrong and I would urge you to start acting like it.” Epstein writes, “Go outside, head high, not as an escaping convict. Go to parties. Deal with it.” Maxwell later asked to be distanced from Epstein’s romantic life, and asked that “Shelly” (whose identity is unknown) come forward as his girlfriend from 1999 to 2002. Epstein responds: "OK with me."

Maxwell was arrested on July 2 in her remote New Hampshire mansion and charged with perjury and trafficking minors for Epstein. Prosecutors said that in certain cases she also "participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims." She pleaded not guilty to the charges, and her lawyers said she “vigorously denies” them. Maxwell’s attorneys tried to prevent the release of the records, and accused Giuffre of leaking Maxwell’s depositions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

“The court is troubled — but not surprised — that Ms. Maxwell has yet again sought to muddy the waters as the clock ticks closer to midnight,” Preska wrote in response to her attorney’s request to delay the documents’ release.