Judge Overrules Billionaire, Unseals Names Of ‘John Does’ In Jeffrey Epstein Ghislaine Maxwell Case

Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered dozens of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s associates to be unsealed yesterday.

Preska ruled that material concerning eight people should be unsealed, despite one subject claiming her order would “wrongfully harm (his) privacy and reputation.” The documents are part of a defamation case that victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre brought against Ghislaine Maxwell.

The judge overrode objections from Tom Pritzker, a billionaire executive chairman of the Hyatt Hotels who claimed it would wrongfully harm his reputation if the material was made public.

Preska said public interest outweighed the privacy rights of the eight “John Does” named in the documents, referred to as Does 12, 28, 97, 107, 144, 147, 171, and 183.

Judge Preska ordered documents related to Doe 183  be released but she delayed the release until November 28 so the individual can appeal her decision.

“That Doe’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has been a subject of intent media coverage, and Doe 183’s name has appeared in numerous places in unsealed portions of Ms. Maxwell’s criminal trial transcript,” Preska said.

“In the court’s view, there’s no reason to redact Doe 183 from the documents.”

According to Insider:

After Maxwell was convicted of sex-trafficking girls with Epstein in December 2021, she dropped her objections to keeping the names of certain “John Doe” parties secret.

Sixteen of those anonymous parties, however, lodged their own objections to making their names public. Preska previously ruled, in April, whether to unseal the other eight people who initially lodged objections.

She ultimately un-redacted the names of hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin and his wife Eva Dubin, longstanding friends of Epstein’s, and their butler Ronald Rizzo, according to Inner City Press.

Eva Dubin testified at Maxwell’s trial, providing details about her friendship with Epstein in the 1980s and 1990s.

Preska ruled that the others were either not relevant or only marginally relevant to the litigation.