A federal court in New York ordered lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell to search her emails for dozens of lewd terms and high-profile names in the lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, court records show.
Amid some back-and-forth between lawyers for both sides, Giuffre’s team zeroed in on key names in Maxwell’s orbit, including the British Prince Andrew, and terms including “nipple,” “schoolgirl,” “servitude” and sexual terms.
“Massage,” another sought-after term, was Epstein’s code word for sex with the young women and girls he employed as massage therapists, one of Epstein’s accusers claimed in other files released in the case.
But Maxwell’s lawyers disputed more than a hundred requested names, including a list of first names that belonged to Epstein accusers, associates and others but which also would have resulted in the flagging of many unrelated emails because they are “incredibly common names.” They also challenged searches for “common words,” lawyer names and other keywords.
The name “Bill,” Maxwell’s lawyers added, is not only a common name but would also return receipts for “every bill that our client has ever received, sent or discussed.”
Frank Thornton, an expert in digital forensics, said the back-and-forth about what terms should be searched is “very typical” in a lawsuit.
“You derive things like these lists from talking to these witnesses who say, ‘Well, I have an email and used this term, this name was used,’” he told Fox News Digital. “The judge may have decided that, after reviewing it, a lot of it really doesn’t pertain to the case at all, no basis to turn it over to the other party.”
Some of the phrases may look bizarre to the average viewer, he added, but provide a glimpse at how legal software can scan huge amounts of documents quickly for subjects that fall outside specific keywords.
“No. 104 jumps out at me: ‘joint* w/3 defend*,’” he said. “They’d be looking for something that begins with ‘joint’ and within 3 words of something that begins with ‘defen.’”
That could turn up emails, for example, discussing a “joint defense privilege” between Maxwell and Epstein.
Other sought-after terms including the “w/3” qualifier included “high* w/3 school*,” “school* w/3 girl*” and “sex w/3 toy*.” Giuffre’s lawyers also sought references to law enforcement, including the FBI, as well as state and federal prosecutors.
The documents include redaction and sealed files that remained secret years after the end of a 2015 lawsuit between Giuffre and Maxwell. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered the documents’ unsealing in December but gave each of the John and Jane Does two weeks to appeal. Lawyers for Giuffre posted the first 191 unsealed files last week out of an estimated 240, later reduced to 215.
Epstein had many high-profile connections. Some of the names were previously known through other means despite having been withheld from the public’s eye in the lawsuit. Many of the names belong to people who have not been accused of wrongdoing.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Leave a Comment