The Lawsuit
Virginia Giuffre (then Virginia Roberts) filed a federal civil lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015 for defamation. Giuffre alleged Maxwell had made false public statements characterizing Giuffre as a liar and that this damaged her reputation.
The Discovery Process
The civil defamation case generated extensive discovery depositions of both parties and dozens of witnesses, document production covering Epstein’s operations, and examination of Giuffre’s experiences.
The Settlement
Giuffre and Maxwell settled the civil case before trial in 2017. The terms were confidential. The documents generated by the case were sealed.
The Unsealing Litigation
Several media organizations, led by the Miami Herald, spent years litigating to unseal the documents. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the unsealing in stages.
The 2024 Major Unsealing
In January 2024, hundreds of court documents from the Giuffre v. Maxwell case were unsealed pursuant to court order. The documents contained extensive information about Epstein’s network and were widely reported on.