Ghislaine Maxwell to ask court to block unsealing of deposition

Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, will urge a United States federal appeals court on Tuesday to overturn a ruling she says jeopardises her ability to defend against criminal charges that she enabled Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls. The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit will review a judge’s order to unseal sworn testimony related to Epstein, including an April 2016 deposition from Maxwell and a deposition by an Epstein accuser. Maxwell, 58, has said that negative publicity from the disclosure of “intimate, sensitive, and personal” information from her deposition would violate her right against self-incrimination, and imperil a fair trial because jurors might hold it against her. The British socialite has pleaded not guilty to charges she helped Epstein recruit and groom underage girls as young as 14 years old to engage in illegal sexual acts in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for having denied involvement under oath. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">