Ghislaine Maxwell interview transcripts to be released Thursday

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend and alleged accomplice of the late Jeffrey Epstein, conducted by lawyers for one of Epstein’s accusers be released to the public by Thursday morning.

The Associated Press reported that U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered the conversations between lawyers for Virginia Giuffre and Maxwell be released following a decision by a federal appeals court finding arguments by Maxwell’s lawyers to keep them sealed to be meritless.

The conversations, which took place in 2016, came as part of Giuffre’s lawsuit against Maxwell accusing her of taking part in the abuse of Giuffre while she was underage. The lawsuit was settled in 2017.

Epstein died in federal custody last year after being accused by New York prosecutors of running a sex-trafficking operation. He previously registered as a sex offender after taking a widely criticized deal with prosecutors in 2008 for solicitation of prostitution with a minor.

Maxwell was arrested in July and charged with aiding Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking organization; she has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her arrest came after her discovery at a remote house in New Hampshire following months of living in hiding.

“As these facts make plain, there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding,” prosecutors said at the time of her charging.

Prosecutors also reportedly noted Tuesday while arguing against the turnover of some materials to defense attorneys that they have not charged Maxwell with being Epstein’s primary supplier of underage women, and stated that they worried she would attempt to intimidate witnesses into silence should information about potential Epstein victims be released.

“The premature revelation of this information would give the defendant the opportunity to interfere with the Government’s investigation before it is complete. Such information could allow her to contact and intimidate witnesses, destroy evidence relevant to the investigation, or alert other targets of the investigation,” the prosecutors reportedly wrote.