Epstein Time Bomb: Ghislaine Maxwell's Private Emails Hacked, Lawyers Confirm
Hackers have stolen secret emails of Jeffrey Epstein's accused procurer of underage girls
© press
Hackers have stolen Ghislaine Maxwell's private emails, including damaging information and names of individuals, creating a potential ticking time bomb of scandal for those connected to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
British socialite Maxwell is believed by prosecutors to have been the procurer of underage girls in Epstein's child sex trafficking operation.
The emails that were stolen from Maxwell - who is connected to powerful elites such as Prince Andrew and the Clintons - are now at risk of being publicly released.
The hack was revealed by lawyers representing Maxwell in the defamation case brought against her by Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts - now Virginia Guiffre.
Maxwell's attorney, Ty Gee, sent a letter about the hack to New York federal court Judge Loretta A. Preska on December 5 but the information has just been made public.
The letter requests that the court keeps certain materials sealed or redacted in the case.
© press
Lawyers note "the difficulty and complexity" of the process as there are more than 8,600 pages of files related to the case, adding that it is "difficult-to-overstate importance to the lives of Ms. Maxwell and the non-parties."
Gee's letter says that the rush to redact documents in the case led to "a surname or an email address" being missed which may have opened up a pathway to Maxwell's emails being hacked.
He refers to details that were released in error in the 2,000 pages that were made public in August by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Those filings revealed allegations that Maxwell procured underage girls for Epstein.
She has denied those charges.
"Despite the Second Circuit's best efforts, it made serious mistakes," Gee wrote.
"For example, it redacted a non-party's name in one location but not another; so the media immediately gained access to that name.
"As another example, it redacted Ms. Maxwell's email address (which linked to her own domain name) in one location but not another; shortly afterward hackers breached the host computer."
The hack may have implications for Prince Andrew after it was revealed in December that the Duke of York exchanged emails with Maxwell in 2015 about Virginia Roberts.
In that email, revealed on Panorama, Maxwell and the British royal discussed Roberts – despite denials from Prince Andrew that he had never met the then-teenager and claims that a photo of them together was a "fake."
"Let me know when we can talk," Prince Andrew wrote in an email to Maxwell.
"Got some specific questions to ask you about Virginia Roberts."
She replied: "Have some info – call me when you have a moment."
Roberts alleges she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times by Epstein when she was 17-years-old.
She said the billionaire pedophile took her as a "sex slave" when she was just 15 and trafficked her while she was still underage, abusing her over the course of years.
Prince Andrew has denied the claims.
© press
In a disastrous interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, the Duke of York claimed he does not remember meeting Roberts.
He said he was at a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, celebrating his daughter's birthday on the same night he is accused of going to Tramp nightclub with the then-teenager.
The documents currently being debated by the legal teams are part of Roberts's 2015 defamation suit against Maxwell.
Maxwell publicly denounced Roberts as a liar, leading her to file a civil lawsuit.
The email security breach means that 58-year-old Maxwell's emails could be sold or leaked to the public and potentially reveal more details about individuals connected to Epstein.
Lawyers representing deceased pedophile #JeffreyEpstein's alleged "pimp," #GhislaineMaxwell, have revealed that sealed documents, from a lawsuit against Epstein, implicate "literally hundreds of people."
— Neon Nettle (@NeonNettle) September 5, 2019
READ MORE: https://t.co/BBSYxxiJTc
#Epstein
The Daily Telegraph reported that Maxwell used a secret mail server, and not a major service like Google, which can keep emails out of the hands of authorities, but which carry an increased risk of them being hacked.
Maxwell was Epstein's connection to high society, introducing him to powerful and wealthy friends in Hollywood, finance and royalty.
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his New York jail cell on August 10, 2019, while facing charges of child sex trafficking.
The financier previously received an 18-month prison sentence in Florida in 2008 on charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Despite the conviction, Prince Andrew continued to associate with Epstein and was pictured staying with him at his mansion in Manhattan in 2010.
Maxwell's current whereabouts are unknown with Roberts' attorneys admitting at court last week that they have no idea where she is.
Maxwell and others are being investigated by the FBI as part of the Epstein case, Reuters reported in December, citing law enforcement sources.
"There is no doubt that every word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph of any document disclosed to the public will be scrutinized by members of the media," Maxwell's defense attorney writes.
He goes on to request that prior to the unsealing of any new documents, Maxwell's attorneys and the non-parties to the case be notified to allow them to conduct a second review and object if necessary.
