In a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, the late financier exercised his Fifth Amendment rights approximately 600 times. This information was revealed in a recent filing in Manhattan federal court, where documents from a civil defamation case settled in 2017 are being unsealed.
Giuffre’s lawyers reported in a September 2016 filing that Epstein consistently refused to answer about 500 of their questions and 100 questions posed by Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers during a deposition. Epstein’s non-responses extended to seemingly innocuous queries, such as his acquaintance with Maxwell, his 2008 guilty plea to a prostitution charge, and his ability to testify.
Epstein’s lawyers later stated he would have invoked the Fifth Amendment if called to testify at trial, citing the potential media attention and personal burdens. Epstein committed suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The unsealed documents, released following a U.S. District Judge’s order, also show others associated with Epstein’s sexual abuse cases invoking their right against self-incrimination. The documents include depositions, legal briefs, and email chains from Giuffre’s lawsuit, naming several of Epstein’s victims, associates, celebrities, and politicians, but not accusing the latter of wrongdoing.
Notably, the documents reference Prince Andrew, whom Giuffre sued for alleged abuse when she was 17. Andrew denied the accusations but settled the lawsuit in 2022 for about 12 million pounds. Meanwhile, Maxwell, convicted in December 2021 for aiding Epstein’s abuses, is appealing her 20-year sentence, with a potential court review as early as March.
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