Ghislaine Maxwell attorneys ask for delay to unseal court documents due to ‘critical new information’

Lawyers for British socialite and alleged sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell have asked the court to keep documents relating to her case sealed for another three weeks.

Maxwell’s attorneys said they have recently learned of “critical new information” affecting both the criminal charges against her and a separate civil case, CNN reported. They have asked for the seal on the documents, which include depositions, to be extended by three weeks while they negotiate with prosecutors.

Maxwell’s lawyers did not offer details on the information in the filing and said they were not at liberty to disclose it, citing a court protective order. They are in talks with the U.S. attorney’s office about a potential modification to the order to allow them to describe the information to the court, according to the network.

Prosecutors allege Maxwell aided the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in recruiting, grooming and sexually abusing minors. She has pleaded not guilty. She was arrested in New Hampshire in July and held in New York without bail.

A federal judge in late July unsealed separate documents pertaining to a 2015 civil defamation suit against Maxwell by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused Epstein of sexual abuse and Maxwell of facilitating it. Her deposition also names Prince Andrew of Britain, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), former President Clinton and attorney Alan Dershowitz. Giuffre has since settled the suit.

Lawyers for Maxwell had attempted to stop the unsealing of the documents, but U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska denied the motion. “Any minor embarrassment” their release might create, she wrote in July, is “far outweighed by the presumption of public access.”