A panel of appeals judges appeared open Wednesday to unsealing a massive trove of documents filed in a lawsuit linked to Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sex trafficking of underage women.
An unusual coalition of media organizations, a far-right conspiracy theorist and Epstein's own attorney, Alan Dershowitz, are seeking to have the record in a lawsuit against Epstein's alleged madam be made public.
Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Sweet ordered most documents in the contentious case be sealed. It was settled in 2017 before going to trial and the papers _ including depositions of 29 individuals not named in the suit _ remain under wraps.
"The presumption has to be of openness," Appeals Judge Jose Cabranes said, expressing discomfort with the blanket secrecy surrounding the case.
Only Ty Gee, an attorney for Ghislane Maxwell, who was accused of plying Epstein with underage women, argued during an hour-long hearing that the documents should remain sealed. The suit against Maxwell was filed by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
"Nothing should be unsealed? You can't possibly be serious," Cabranes said, echoing the skepticism of his colleagues.
The three-judge panel seemed inclined to order a lower court to sift through 167 documents with attorneys from both sides and make findings about what can and cannot be made public.
The depositions feature "a large quantity of information from non-parties relating to their own sexual behavior," Gee said.
Information on Epstein has long been the subject of speculation. The sex offender once counted many powerful people among his friends, including President Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Woody Allen and Kevin Spacey.
Dershowitz says the information, if made public, would show that Epstein never directed women to have sex with him.
Giuffre attorney Paul Cassell said she wanted the record revealed because it would show "she was trafficked by Mr. Epstein and Mr. Epstein's powerful friends, including Alan Dershowitz."
In a twist, Dershowitz agreed with Giuffre that the papers should be made public _ because they would show the opposite.
The Harvard Law professor said Giuffre invented the story in an attempt to get more publicity.
"She knows I'm telling the truth and she is lying," Dershowitz said.
The arguments before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals come only weeks after a federal judge ruled that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta _ then acting as U.S. Attorney in south Florida _ violated the law in 2008 by keeping Epstein's victims in the dark about his sweetheart plea deal.
Epstein served 13 months in a Palm Beach County jail despite evidence of an interstate sex trafficking operation. He pleaded guilty to prostitution charges and registered as a sex offender.
The Department of Justice has opened a probe of Acosta's handling of the case.
