A man who is named in court documents by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers wants to keep his identity a secret, and is asking a Manhattan judge to allow him to remain anonymous, his legal team stated in a Tuesday letter.
John Doe’s attorneys asked Manhattan Judge Loretta Preska to protect their client's identity if she chooses to unseal new documents pertaining to the federal defamation case between Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. In the 2015 suit, Giuffre accused Maxwell of procuring young girls for sexual abuse by Epstein and his powerful friends. (The two sides settled in 2017.)
“Doe is not, and has never been, a party of any judicial proceeding involving Ghislaine Maxwell or Virginia Giuffre, or in any proceeding relating to Giuffre's allegation that Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her,” the letter states, adding that the anonymous client does not have any knowledge about the allegations against Epstein. The lawyers warned that a media frenzy could follow the release of any names, particularly as the documents could detail a “range of allegations of sexual acts” between Giuffre and friends of Epstein’s, “some famous, some not” and reveal “the identities of non-parties who either allegedly engaged in sexual acts with [Giuffre] or who allegedly facilitated such acts.”
Preska is set to rule on whether to unseal the new documents in a hearing in Manhattan Supreme court on Wednesday. Last month, a federal apparels court unsealed more than 2,000 pages of documents related to the defamation case.
