PRINCE Andrew has been told he should be ‘very concerned’ after Ghislaine Maxwell lost her legal battle to keep court documents about her sex life sealed.
The former socialite wanted to prevent the release of papers from a 2015 lawsuit related to her sex life and relationship with dead paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Judge Loretta Preska yesterday ruled they should be unsealed within a week and Maxwell’s lawyers now have seven days to launch an emergency appeal.
The names of two mysterious ‘John Does’ will also be revealed if and when the documents are unsealed.
Maxwell is currently awaiting trial on accusations that she played a central role in prolific child abuse carried out by her millionaire former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell last year.
Lisa Bloom, who is representing some of Epstein’s victims, told the Daily Mirror: “Unsealing of the Maxwell documents is a positive step. Secrecy favours predators. Transparency helps victims.
“Anyone who was associated with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell should be very concerned.
“In particular, Prince Andrew should get ahead of this by cooperating with investigators as he promised to do months ago.”
The documents formed part of a defamation lawsuit brought against Maxwell in 2015 by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts.
Roberts has alleged a litany of abuse by Epstein, including that she was trafficked for sex with Prince Andrew in 2001, a claim the prince has “vehemently” denied.
Roberts brought a libel case after Maxwell accused her of lying.
The case was settled in 2017 before it reached trial but, while more than 2000 pages of evidence were released, around 900 court filings remained under seal or redacted.
Roberts asked for some of them to be released as part of separate civil lawsuits against Maxwell and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
Numerous women have alleged that Maxwell helped to recruit and groom them before they were abused by Epstein as minors.
At least two have also alleged that Maxwell participated in the abuse herself.
She was arrested at a New Hampshire property at the start of this month, and last week was denied bail after prosecutors successfully argued that she was a flight risk.
She is scheduled to stand trial in July 2021, and faces 35 years if convicted.
