Prosecutors have argued that witnesses in the case against Ghislaine Maxwell should not be publicly identified because they could be at risk of harassment and therefore reluctant to co-operate.
They asked a Manhattan federal court judge yesterday to stop lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend from publicly identifying women who have not already spoken about the financier or Maxwell. “The victims of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein have suffered enough,” prosecutors said.
Defence lawyers said that a ban on publicly identifying alleged victims or potential witnesses will hamper their case.
Prosecutors wrote in court papers: “Permitting defence counsel to publicly identify witnesses who have not identified themselves on the record risks subjecting witnesses to harassment and intimidation, with no conceivable benefit to the defence other than perhaps discouraging witnesses from cooperating with the Government.”
The British socialite, 58, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the Nineties.
