NEW YORK _ The criminal charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are "meritless," her attorney wrote in a civil suit filed against the accused Jeffrey Epstein enabler.
"The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York on June 29, 2020 caused a meritless indictment to be issued against Ms. Maxwell," attorney Laura Menninger wrote in a Manhattan federal court filing on Thursday.
Maxwell's defense came in response to a suit filed against her by a Jeffrey Epstein accuser using the pseudonym Jane Doe. The woman says she met Maxwell when she was only 13 years old in 1994 _ an encounter that resulted in her allegedly becoming Epstein's first known victim.
"Ms. Maxwell's denials of factual allegations shall be interpreted the same as pleading not guilty to the various counts in any criminal indictment," Menninger wrote.
The woman claimed in the suit that Epstein introduced her to the future president, Donald Trump, in 1994, saying, "This is a good one, right?"
Trump, according to the suit against Epstein's estate, "smiled and nodded in agreement."
Epstein's abuse escalated to rape by 1997, the suit against Maxwell and Epstein's estate claims.
The time frame of the Jane Doe lawsuit corresponds to the criminal charges against Maxwell, which alleged she enticed minors to travel across state lines for sex between 1994 and 1997.
Maxwell is expected to file papers arguing for bail later on Friday. Federal officials have put special protocols in place for Maxwell while she's locked up, including giving her paper clothes so she doesn't suffer the same fate as Epstein, who killed himself behind bars while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
