In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee Patreon Periscope Song
BBC - Decrypt - LightRead - Honduras - Source

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 21 – Ghislaine Maxwell, charged with sex trafficking and false statements in a second superseding indictment, has requested an in-person arraignment citing previous press coverage and debacles(s).

 Inner City Press on April 2 requested audio and video access for the arraignment on April 23. Inner City Press live tweeted it here and below.

On August 27, when the SDNY confirmed its fourth quarter schedule, the November 29 trial date was confirmed as firm: "ORDER as to Ghislaine Maxwell. The Clerk's Office has now confirmed that a jury trial in this case has been scheduled to commence on November 29, 2021. This is a firm trial date."

  Maxwell wants to keep prospective juror questioning - voir dire - and selection even more sealed from the public and Press.

On October 18 the US Attorney's Office opposed the request, saying the the voir dire questions should be asked by Judge Nathan, and that there should only be sidebars on "sensitive questions such as those that relate to sexual abuse and media exposure." Full letter on Patreon here.

 RCFP rightly submitted opposition, and Inner City Press and others in SDNY joined the opposition. And in a conference on October 21 on that as scheduling issues, Judge Nathan denied the request to seal. Inner City Press live tweeted it here (podcast here)

For the US Attorney's Office, lawyers including... Maurene Comey.

Judge Nathan's deputy: Ms Maxwell, are you here?

Maxwell: This is Ms. Maxwell. I beg your pardon I cannot hear you... I vaguely hear you.

Judge Nathan: Good afternoon.  Maxwell: Good afternoon, Your Honor. Judge Nathan: Jury selection is to begin November 4. Trial is to begin November 29. I'll address the request to seal. [Full disclosure: Inner City Press has joined others in opposing sealing]

Judge Nathan: I will allow access by alleged victims, and Ms. Maxwell's family. I thank the District Executive's Office for its assistance. I received the proposed jury questionnaire, and studied case law including the Press Enterprise case

 Judge Nathan: We will do a screening questionnaire before jury selection, on juror's knowledge of the case and any bias from publicity. These are common in high profile cases. The juror department will assign numbers. The questionnaires will be on Nov 4, 5 and 12.

Judge Nathan: I am setting a place holder conference for strike issues on Nov 15 at 9:30 am. I will conduct it as one on one voir dire with public access. They will be brought in one by one. I will not permit attorney voir dire questioning.

 Judge Nathan: There will be overflow rooms with voir dire, & 2 pool reporters.  Any questions? Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim: We have concerns about this voir dire being done in front of media.

Judge Nathan: Can you be specific? Sternheim: Personal experience

Judge Nathan: We can deal with these situations one at a time depending on what emerges from the questionnaire. I have conferred with Judge Donnelly in the #EDNY [that is, the #RKelly trial], I will listen to requests for deviation

 Maxwell's Sternheim: How many jurors will be summoned? Judge Nathan: 600 prospective jurors if we need them. I intend to sit six alternates. So a jury of 18. Picked from 50 whom I'll qualify. Should we do strikes on the 19th or 29th? AUSA: Lara Pomerantz: 19th

Maxwell's Sternheim: We prefer the 29th. The jurors will be at Thanksgiving and the topic may come up - it is uncomfortable to remove yourself from the Thanksgiving table. So let's do it on the 29th.

Judge Nathan: I will consider it, and let you know. Let's turn to sealing issue. Ms. Sternheim, are you asking to seal the Court's draft? Maxwell's Sternheim: Yes.  Judge Nathan: Do you have any authority for this?

Maxwell's Sternheim: The questionnaire has names Judge Nathan: If we have a juror that has some familiarity with the questionnaire, if there is media coverage of it, they'll have to tell us. So what's the prejudice? Maxwell's Sternheim: We've been unable to control the media coverage

 Maxwell's Sternheim: Seeing the questionnaire in advance makes it a take-home exam. There is an incentive to be on this jury. They'll answer accordingly. Judge Nathan: Any authority for this? I don't know what "controlling the press" would look like.

 Maxwell's Sternheim: We'll submit any authority by close of business today.  AUSA Pomerantz: Ms. Maxwell asked us to seal, and we did. We do not oppose her request. Judge Nathan: News organizations [now including Inner City Press] have opposed sealing.

Judge Nathan: The request for sealing has not met the standard of Lugosch. If a juror sees the questionnaire in the media they would be required to report it. If they lie we will smoke it out.

 Judge Nathan: So they should be docketed by end of the week

Maxwell's Sternheim: We'd like former US Attorney Audrey Strauss added to the list.  AUSA Pomerantz: We don't object.  Sternheim: And AUSA Rossmiller. His name will come up. AUSA: How?

Judge Nathan: I'm reserve on that. What else? Maxwell's Sternheim: We want to ask if they have protested for the #MeToo or #TimesUp movements. Judge Nathan: We could ask about protests. AUSA Pomerantz: We're fine with that.

 AUSA Pomerantz: We'd like previous Maxwell defense counsel listed. Like Mr. Marcus. Maxwell's Sternheim: He was never counsel of record, only Mark Cohen. Judge Nathan: I'm going to include the two names. Three, with Alex Rossmiller.

 Judge Nathan: I'd speak to jurors filling out the questionnaires. But here that your mean 6 speeches. So I'll do a video and share the script in advance. Adjourned.

   After the death of Jeffrey Epstein in the MCC prison, on July 2 Acting US Attorney for the SDNY Audrey Strauss announced and unsealed in indictment of Maxwell on charges including sex trafficking and perjury.

   Inner City Press went to her press conference at the US Attorney's Office and asked, Doesn't charging Maxwell with perjury undercut any ability to use testimony from her against other, bigger wrong-doers? Periscope here at 23:07.

  Strauss replied that it is not impossible to use a perjurer's testimony. But how often does it work?

  At 3:30 pm on July 2 Maxwell appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampsire, before Magistriate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.
(Also live tweeted bail denial of July 14, here.)

   In the July 3 media coverage of Maxwell, media all of the world used a video and stills from it of Maxwell speaking in front of a blue curtain, like here.

 What they did not mention is something Inner City Press has been asking the UN about, as under UNSG Antonio Guterres with his own sexual exploitation issues (exclusive video and audio) it got roughed up and banned from the UN: Ghislaine Maxwell had a ghoulish United Nations press conference, under the banner of the "Terramar Project," here.

 On July 5, after some crowd-sourcing, Inner City Press reported on another Ghislaine Maxwell use of the United Nations, facilitated by Italy's Permanent Representative to the UN, UN official Nikhil Seth and Amir Dossal, who also let into the UN and in one case took money from convicted UN briber Ng Lap Seng, and Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy, also linked to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

  At the Ghislaine Maxwell UN event, the UN Deputy Secretary General was directly involved.

List of (some of) the participants on Patreon here.

  Inner City Press has published a phone of Maxwell in the UN with Dossal, here. But the connection runs deeper: Dossal with "25 years of UN involvement" was on Terrarmar's board of directors, one of only five directors, only three not related to Maxwell by blood and name.

The directors: Ghislaine Maxwell, Christine Malina-Maxwell, Steven Haft, Christine Dennison and... Amir Dossal. Inner City Press is publishing this full 990 on Patreon here.

  Dossal has operated through the UN Office of Partnership, with Antonio Guterres and his deputy Amina J. Mohammed, here.

And the links to the world of UN bribery, including Antonio Guterres through the Gulbenkian Foundation, runs deeper. More to follow.

Antonio Guterres claims he has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, but covers it up and even participate in it. He should be forced to resign - and/or have immunity waived.

  Terramar has been dissolved, even though Maxwell's former fundraiser / director of development Brian Yurasits still lists the URL on his (protected) Twitter profile, also here.

  But now Inner City Press has begun to inquire into Ghislaine Maxwell's other United Nations connections, starting with this photograph of another day's (or at least another outfit's) presentation in the UN, here. While co-conspirator Antonio Guterres has had Inner City Press banned from any entry into the UN for two years and a day, this appears to be in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) chamber. We'll have more on this, and on Epstein and the UN. Watch this site.

  The case is US v. Maxwell, 20-cr-330 (Nathan).

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for