Prosecutors are gearing up for a retrial in the Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking case.
In a sign the Department of Justice expects it will be forced to go head-to-head with Maxwell in a courtroom for a second time, they have asked a New York judge to agree to the “categorical withholding” of the FBI’s top-secret files on her sex predator pal, Jeffrey Epstein, Knewz.com has exclusively learned.
The website RadarOnline.com sued the FBI in 2017 and demanded they reveal their entire case against Epstein, the former friend of Presidents Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and other famous identities, who died in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10 that year.
Ever since, the FBI and the Department of Justice have been relentlessly fighting to keep the majority of the documents from RadarOnline.com and out of the public.
In their latest filing in the near six-year lawsuit, Maurene Comey, the lead prosecutor against Maxwell, admitted the FBI is sitting on unreleased information that could impact a jury appeal in any appeal from Maxwell.
Comey — the daughter of former FBI director James Comey — admitted the Epstein files include exhibits that were not publicly filed at the first trial, specific information about witnesses who may testify at a new trial, as well as “information and documents” authored by potential trial witnesses.
The files include topics and witness statements that “go far beyond the issues covered during the first trial,” Comey said in a July 11 declaration to the United States District Court Southern District of New York.
“The first trial focused primarily on the abuse of six victims, and many exhibits were received under seal to protect the privacy of those victims and other third parties,” she added.
“The withheld records include statements from and evidence regarding many more victims of Epstein and numerous witnesses who were not called or referenced during the first trial, including some who the Government may elect to call and/or reference if this case were to be retried."
“Accordingly, premature release of the records would risk unduly influencing potential jurors for a retrial.”
Maxwell, 61, appealed her conviction after a jury found she joined and enabled the sexual abuse that Epstein committed on scores of teenagers and young women for more than a decade.
She has claimed she was prosecuted as a “proxy” for Epstein to “satisfy public outrage” over the case in the aftermath of his death in a Manhattan jail.
The former British socialite is serving a 20-year jail term at a federal facility in Tallahassee.
RadarOnline.com, represented by noted first amendment lawyer Dan Novack, filed suit in 2017 and alleged the FBI stonewalled its Freedom of Information Act request.
The website demanded the production of the bureau’s records concerning “the agency’s investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Edward Epstein for sexually trafficking underage women. Defendant FBI has withheld these records despite a properly filed FOIA request.”
“Jeffrey Epstein is a billionaire financier, philanthropist, and sex offender. In 2005, Epstein became the subject of an undercover sex trafficking investigation by Palm Beach, Florida police and the FBI. Dozens of underage women were trafficked by Epstein to perform sexual acts on him as well as his friends,” the website said in its initial filing.
Despite that, the suit said, Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to a single count of soliciting prostitution from a minor under Florida state law and serve only 13 months in prison.
He would later die in the midst of the RadarOnline-FBI battle while in his Manhattan holding cell in 2019, where he was awaiting trial for several sex-trafficking charges.
RadarOnline.com has been attempting to get its hands on the contents of the FBI files ever since.
In a 2019 search of Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, FBI agents seized a shelf full of black binders which included CDs filled with photos, a passport from a foreign country with a picture of Epstein under another name, and other documents. They also sawed open a safe and found diamonds, jewelry, CDs, and hard drives inside.
In a similar raid, FBI and NYPD officers ransacked the Caribbean home of Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Island and were seen on video carting away evidence including a number of computers.
Much of that evidence has never been released nor has details about Epstein’s role as an FBI informant, as was first detailed in this exclusive Knewz.com report.
But in her declaration, Comey, who also helped lead the case against Epstein, argued “premature public disclosure could reasonably be expected to influence potential jurors’ perceptions of the witnesses and the evidence to be presented at trial.”
Previously, Comey told the judge the “release of the FBI’s records relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein would provide Maxwell with greater access to the agency’s investigatory files than she would otherwise have through the criminal discovery process; contravene the Protective Order entered by Judge Nathan in the criminal case against Maxwell; risk influence by the media upon witnesses and the jury; potentially influence witnesses’ trial testimony by providing the opportunity for them to shape their testimony by conforming it with other evidence gathered during the investigation; and be reasonably expected to impair the ability to seat a fair and impartial jury.”
While the trial of Maxwell has since concluded and sunk into a life behind bars, the FBI, via the Justice Department, said the release of its Epstein case file could “likely interfere with the prosecution of Maxwell.”
“Regarding the remaining records, releasing the entirety of the FBI’s records relating to its investigation of Epstein in this FOIA litigation would interfere with any new trial of Maxwell in several ways,” Comey said.
“First, it would allow Maxwell to have earlier and greater access to the investigatory files than she would otherwise have through the criminal discovery process... She did not have access to all of the FBI’s files relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein. If there were a new trial, the Court would presumably set a deadline for release of any additional records relating to the new trial. Release of all FBI records pertaining to the FBI’s investigation and prosecution of Epstein therefore would provide Maxwell with earlier and greater access to records than she would otherwise have at any new trial.”
Comey also claimed if there were a new trial, there would likely be significant coverage by the media which would adversely impact a jury.
“Media coverage of a new trial may impact potential witnesses and jurors,” she said.
“As such, the parties in the Maxwell matter remain subject to a protective order prohibiting the defense from disseminating Government productions to the public or the press.”
Comey added, “Premature release of the withheld records, particularly if the records are released in part or without full context, may influence the perception of jurors who have been exposed to media coverage containing speculation and theories relating to Maxwell.”
On July 7, 2022, Maxwell appealed the criminal judgment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Maxwell’s appeal is said to focus on five points raising issues pertaining to statute of limitations; a non-prosecutions agreement; juror misconduct and a post-verdict hearing; and sentence.
“The Government breached a non-prosecution agreement that immunized Ms. Maxwell for these offenses,” said Arthur Aidala, Maxwell’s latest attorney."
“That agreement was entered into by the Government and Epstein in 2007, and, by its terms, unambiguously barred this prosecution, in the first instance.”
