A federal court of appeals in New York on Monday moved a step closer to unsealing documents that could reveal new evidence in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, who’s been accused of being part of an international sex trafficking operation.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals gave the parties until March 29 to argue their case that the documents detailing the alleged international sex trafficking operation should remain sealed.
The evidence will be made public unless the lawyers make a convincing argument, the panel said, according to the Miami Herald.
An unusual coalition of media organizations, a far-right conspiracy theorist and Epstein’s own attorney Alan Dershowitz are seeking to have the record made public in a lawsuit against Epstein’s alleged madam, Ghislane Maxwell.
Maxwell is the sole party fighting to keep the case sealed.
Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Sweet ordered most documents in the contentious case 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.
Ty Gee, an attorney for Maxwell, who was accused of supplying Epstein with underage women, argued during an hour-long hearing last week that the documents should remain sealed. The suit against Maxwell was filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was recruited by Maxwell to give massages to Epstein which led to her being sexually abused.
Maxwell has denied all the allegations.
Epstein, 66, once counted many powerful people among his friends, including President Trump, Former President Bill Clinton, Woody Allen and Kevin Spacey.
He was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Epstein served 13 months in a private section of Palm Beach County jail despite evidence of an interstate sex trafficking operation. He pleaded guilty to prostitution charges and registered as a sex offender.