Epstein invoked 5th Amendment right to silence 600 times - court filings
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[January 06, 2024]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The late financier Jeffrey Epstein invoked his
constitutional right against incriminating himself about 600 times in
testimony for a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of
sexual abuse.
Epstein's refusal to answer questions in Giuffre's lawsuit against his
longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was disclosed in a filing on Friday
in Manhattan federal court, as part of a trove of documents being
unsealed this month from the civil defamation case, which settled in
2017.
The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives people the right not
to incriminate themselves.
In the September 2016 filing, Giuffre's lawyers said Epstein routinely
answered "Fifth" in a deposition that month to about 500 substantive
questions they posed, and 100 substantive questions that Maxwell's
lawyers posed.
Giuffre's lawyers said Epstein's refusal to answer extended to questions
that posed no real risk of incriminating him, including whether he knew
Maxwell, had in 2008 pleaded guilty in open court to a prostitution
charge and was healthy enough to testify.
The questions also included at least three about Epstein's relationship
with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Lawyers for Epstein said in a subsequent filing, also released on
Friday, that their client would have invoked the Fifth Amendment if
called upon to testify at trial.
They cited among other reasons the "burdens" he would face, and the
expected "media circus generated by Mr. Epstein's personal appearance."
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 at age 66
while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Several other people accused of aiding in his sexual abuses also invoked
their rights against self-incrimination in various litigation related to
him, Friday's unsealed filings show.
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Demonstrators hold signs aloft protesting Jeffrey Epstein in New
York, U.S., July 8, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
More than 180 documents including depositions, legal briefs and
email chains from Giuffre's lawsuit have been released since
Wednesday, under an order last month from U.S. District Judge
Loretta Preska in Manhattan, who oversaw the case.
The documents name many of Epstein's victims, who were paid to give
him and others massages in exchange for money.
Others named included people who worked with the financier, and a
handful of celebrities and politicians linked to him.
In addition to Clinton, prominent people named in the documents
include actor Kevin Spacey, magician David Copperfield and business
executive Leslie Wexner. None was accused in the documents of
wrongdoing.
Several documents discussed the alleged activities of Britain's
Prince Andrew, who Giuffre sued and accused of abusing her more than
two decades ago when she was 17.
Andrew has denied Giuffre's accusations, but settled her case for a
reported 12 million pounds ($15 million) in 2022.
Maxwell is appealing her December 2021 conviction and 20-year prison
sentence for aiding in Epstein's sexual abuses. A federal appeals
court in Manhattan may review her case as soon as March.
($1 = 0.7864 pounds)
(Reporting by Luc Cohen, Jody Godoy, Jack Queen and Jonathan Stempel
in New York; Editing by William Mallard)
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