GHISLAINE MAXWELL ENDS FIGHT TO KEEP THE NAME OF 8 ‘JOHN DOES’ A SECRET AFTER VIRGINIA GIUFFRE DEMANDS THEY BE MADE PUBLIC

• Ghislaine Maxwell has ended her fight to keep the names of eight “John Does’ sealed, her attorney said in a letter.
• The letter said that the listed “Does” has legal counsel to assert their “own respective privacy rights.”
• It follows efforts by Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre’s legal team to get the “John Does” identified.

Ghislaine Maxwell will no longer fight to keep the names of eight “John Does” a secret.

Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre, who have accused Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking, have asked a judge to unseal material from an earlier civil lawsuit she filed against Maxwell.

The lawsuit was settled in 2017, but Giuffre has fought for years to have material from it unsealed. The “John Does” all appear to be people who have stepped into the litigation over the years and asserted privacy rights for parts of the sealed material.

In a letter Wednesday to Loretta Preska, the judge overseeing the case, Maxwell’s attorney Laura Menninger said Wednesday that her client will leave it to the court to decide whether the names should be unsealed.

“Each of the listed Does has counsel who have ably asserted their own respective privacy rights,” the letter, submitted by Menninger, said.

The fact that Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein, who was convicted of five sex-trafficking charges, is no longer opposing the unsealing does not necessarily indicate that all names will be released. Preska will take into consideration the arguments set forth by each of the anonymous “John Does,” which have been made in court filings that have not all been made public.

A review of court filings from MailOnline found that six of the “John Does” have objected to unsealing court documents that would make their identities public. One of them, John Doe 17, wishes to keep their identity secret to avoid “annoyance and embarrassment,” the media outlet reported.

Another, “John Doe 151,” said that the disclosure of his name would lead to him being “hounded” by the media, and added that he wishes to maintain a “private life,” MailOnline said.

Following Maxwell’s conviction on sex-trafficking charges last month, Sigrid McCawley, one of Giuffre’s attorneys in the case, said there was no longer any reason to keep the identities of the “John Does.” 

“Now that Maxwell’s criminal trial has come and gone, there is little reason to retain protection over the vast swaths of information about Epstein and Maxwell’s sex-trafficking operation that were originally filed under seal in this case,” said Sigrid McCawley, a Giuffre attorney, according to a letter seen by the Independent.

The decision by Maxwell’s legal team not to fight against the potential unsealing of name took place on the same day that a federal judge denied Prince Andrew’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit from Giuffre, who has also accused the royal of sexual assault.

It was just one element of Prince Andrew’s worst week yet in the case.

This article has been updated. Read the original article on Insider

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