A judge has said that documents containing the identities of victims and alleged associates of deceased convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein can be made available to the public.
Judge Loretta Preska said Friday that several documents from a 2015 defamation trial against Epstein associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell could be unsealed as a a matter of public interest.
The judge’s ruling will allow the names of several “John Does” to be revealed from a seven-year-old trial in which Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre had sued Maxwell for defamation. Preska said that a lot of the “purportedly sensitive information” included in the documents had already been made public through Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial.
Under contention were the real names of “Does” 12, 28, 97, 107, 144, 147, 171, and 183. “Doe 183” got a temporary delay to allow that individual to appeal.
“That Doe’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has been a subject of intent media coverage, and Doe 183’s name has appeared in numerous places in unsealed portions of Ms. Maxwell’s criminal trial transcript,” Preska said Friday, according to a report from Insider. “In the court’s view, there’s no reason to redact Doe 183 from the documents.”
The names that were revealed included several alleged associates and victims of Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in a New York City jail cell in August 2019.
Billionaire Hyatt Hotel executive Tom Pritzker, a cousin of Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker, was one of the individuals named in the documents. He had hoped to keep his name sealed as he said it would harm his reputation.
Giuffre has accused him of having sex with her as part of Epstein’s trafficking scheme, but Pritzker has denied the allegations. Pritzker’s name was referenced in the documents during a deposition.
Emmy Tayler, who was once employed as Maxwell’s personal trainer, name was also included in the sealed documents. She has contested the nature of her relationship with Maxwell, and said that she is innocent from any allegation of wrongdoing.
One victim, Sarah Ransome, was also included in the documents while another’s name was kept secret due to “ongoing trauma.” Another name that will remain sealed was described as a “classic outsider” by Preska.
All of the information from the unsealed documents will likely be made public in the coming weeks.
