Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein’s estate should be dismissed, or she should be compelled to represent herself after 18 months of delays while she seeks new counsel, the estate’s co-executors said in a filing Tuesday in V.I. Superior Court.
At issue in the suit is whether the estate is responsible for Maxwell’s legal fees and other expenses stemming from her arrest and subsequent conviction on child sex-trafficking charges following a trial in Manhattan federal court in December 2021.
Maxwell, 62, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022 and is currently incarcerated at the federal women’s prison in Tallahassee, Florida, is appealing her conviction to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, where she is represented by Diana Fabi Samson of Aidala Bertuna & Kamas, PC of New York.
However, Maxwell has not had legal representation in her lawsuit against Epstein’s estate — filed in March 2020, four months before her arrest that July — since her attorney was allowed to withdraw in August 2022 due to lack of payment. The case has been stalled since, with the court granting stays to allow her time to find new counsel.
As Epstein’s onetime girlfriend, confidante and business manager, Maxwell has maintained she is being punished for his crimes after he died by apparent suicide in August 2019 while in custody in New York on human trafficking charges. However, his victims said that Maxwell played an integral role in his sex trafficking scheme by actively recruiting and grooming young women for him and his powerful friends and at times taking part in the abuse herself.
Epstein’s primary residence was Little St. James off St. Thomas, where for years he trafficked in girls and young women and ran a complex web of shell companies registered in the USVI that enabled his crimes, the V.I. government alleged in its suit against his estate that was settled for $105 million in November 2022.
The wealthy financier was valued at more than $577 million at the time of his death.
In her latest filing, on Dec. 22, Maxwell sought to continue the stay in proceedings while her appeal of her conviction in the Southern District of New York is pending and while she continues to seek new counsel in her lawsuit against the estate.
Maxwell alleges in her complaint that Epstein and his co-executors — Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn — had promised to pay for any legal expenses she might incur because of his actions and that Epstein had pledged, orally and in writing, to always take care of her.
In their response Tuesday to Maxwell’s December filing, attorneys for Indyke and Kahn reiterated their argument that the estate should not be made to pay for her intentional criminal behavior that was not related to legitimate, employment-related duties.
Moreover, the motion to dismiss has been fully briefed and pending before the court since August 2022, they said.
Indyke and Kahn filed a motion to dismiss the suit in May 2020, adding a supplemental brief in support of their request in August 2022. In September, they asked the court to dismiss Maxwell’s suit for failure to prosecute.
Tuesday’s filing said the “stalling must end,” noting Maxwell is no closer to finding an attorney than when she sought a stay for the same reason last May.
“Maxwell’s most recent filing is yet another attempt to delay these proceedings — an attempt the Court should decline to entertain,” they said. “[T]he fact remains that this case has lain dormant for well over a year and Maxwell is no closer to finding new counsel. Under the circumstances, Defendants respectfully request that the Court lift the stay and address Defendants’ pending” motion to dismiss.
Moreover, Maxwell’s failure to abide by the federal rules of procedure — specifically Rule 41(b), which governs dismissal for failure to prosecute or failure to comply with federal rules or court orders — is prejudicial to the estate, the filing argues.
“As each day passes, evidence could be lost, memories will fade, and witnesses may become unavailable, making it all the more difficult for Defendants to refute Maxwell’s claims,” it said.
Furthermore, “though other matters remain open, the Estate cannot complete its probate proceedings and bring the Estate to a close while this indemnification matter remains pending. Thus, any further requests for a stay should be denied,” according to the filing.
Additionally, Maxwell has indicated in her opposition to the motion to dismiss that she will “continue to appear” in the matter pro se — meaning representing herself — so there should be no more delays, it argues.
Indyke, Kahn and the Epstein estate are represented by Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC of St. Thomas; Daniel H. Weiner of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP of New York; Gordon C. Rhea of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and Daniel S. Ruzumna of Patterson Belknap Webb & Taylor, LLP of New York.
According to news reports by the Miami Herald and CNN, Maxwell was sued in 2022 for $878,000 in unpaid legal fees by Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, the firm that represented her in New York and in lawsuits by Epstein’s victims. Her brother, Kevin Maxwell, and her now-estranged husband, former hedge fund CEO Scott Borgerson, whom she married in 2016, were named as defendants.
