US

Court Orders Release Of Records In Case Of Registered Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Reuters

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that court documents in a lawsuit involving billionaire Jeffrey Epstein will be unsealed, paving the way for potentially explosive disclosures about the politically connected sex offender.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued the decision in a lawsuit that Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a one-time masseuse for Epstein, filed against Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein associate who has been described as a “madam” for the billionaire.

Giuffre alleged Maxwell recruited her when she was 15 to give sexual massages to Epstein at his mansion in Palm Beach. Giuffre filed a lawsuit Sept. 21, 2015, accusing Maxwell of making defamatory statements by claiming that Giuffre made false allegations about Epstein.

Nearly 170 court filings were submitted under seal in the case. A 76-page summary judgement in the case was also heavily redacted. It is unclear when the documents will be made public following Wednesday’s decision.

“[U]pon reviewing the summary judgment materials in connection with this appeal, we find that there is no countervailing privacy interest sufficient to justify their continued sealing,” the appeals court ruled.

U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta participates in a roundtable discussion on workforce development with U.S. President Donald Trump at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta, Iowa, U.S., July 26, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta participates in a roundtable discussion on workforce development with U.S. President Donald Trump at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta, Iowa, U.S., July 26, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The ruling overturns a New York judge’s decision to keep the court filings under seal. The appeals court said in its 25-page decision that the judge in the New York case “erred in several respects.”

The Miami Herald, blogger Mike Cernovich and Alan Dershowitz, a friend and lawyer of Epstein’s, had sued for the lawsuit documents to be unsealed. Dershowitz, a prominent constitutional scholar, has sued Giuffre, alleging she falsely accused him of having sex with Epstein’s underage victims. (RELATED: ANN COULTER: How A Democratic Pedophile Became A Trump Scandal)

The Herald has reported extensively on Epstein’s alleged misdeeds, as well as a sweetheart deal he struck with federal prosecutors in Florida more than a decade ago. The case has for years made national headlines, largely because of Epstein’s past relationships with powerful figures, such as Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump. Clinton reportedly flew more than two dozen times on Epstein’s private jet, which has been dubbed the “Lolita Express.”

An FBI investigation of Epstein that began in 2005 identified nearly three dozen teenage girls — mostly between 13 and 16 years old — who said they were recruited to perform sex acts for Epstein and his friends, according to The Herald.

As Epstein was set to face a lifetime in prison, he struck a deal June 30, 2008, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in southern Florida, which was led at the time by Alexander Acosta, the current secretary of labor.

Epstein, who made his fortune in finance, served only 13 months in a state work camp and received immunity from federal prosecution as part of the plea agreement. He was required to register as a sex offender.

The lenient deal for Epstein has led to calls for an investigation of Acosta’s decision. Some of Epstein’s victims have also called for terms of his plea bargain to be revoked.

Giuffre’s lawyer celebrated the appeals court’s decision.

“We applaud the Second Circuit’s decision to unseal the materials in the Giuffre v. Maxwell case,” Sigrid McCawley told The Daily Beast in a statement.

“This ruling is a watershed moment that helps victims of sexual abuse. It unequivocally stands for the proposition that information cannot be hidden in court filings and that the public has the right to know about the abuse of victims.”

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel