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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 311-4 Filed 07/02/21 Page5of27
To Be Filed Under Seal
B. Attacks on the Protective Order
Both during and after the settlement of the Giuffre Action, third parties made highly-
publicized applications to have documents that were filed under seal by order of Judge Sweet
unsealed and made public. (15-cv-7433, Dkt. Nos. 362, 550, 935.) Harvard Law professor and
criminal defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz, whom Giuffre publicly alleged of perpetrating sex
crimes alongside Epstein, moved to unseal a limited portion of the record in order to clear his
name. (15-cv-7433, Dkt. No. 364 at 1.) Alt-right activist and provocateur Michael Cernovich
also sought to unseal the papers filed as part of Maxwell’s motion for summary judgment,
arguing, “Cernovich Media cannot conduct its Forth [sic] Estate function if this Court allows the
Parties to conduct theit dispute outside of the normal sunlight of transparency and accessibility.”
(15-cv-7433, Dkt. No. 551 at 1.) The Miami Herald Media Company and investigative journalist
Julie Brown, whose feature story about Epstein recently garnered significant public interest, also
moved post-settlement to unseal the entire record. (15-cv-7433, Dkt. No. 936.)
All such applications were denied by Judge Sweet. (15-cv-7433, Dkt. Nos. 439 (sealed),
892, 953.) A consolidated appeal from the orders denying the unsealing motions is currently
pending before the Second Circuit. Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 18-2868 (2d Cir.), On March 6,
2019, the Court of Appeals heard argument on the consolidated appeal, which was widely
covered in the legal press. I think it is fair to say that during the argument, the panel seemed
critical of the district court’s failure to make specific findings about why any particular document
as to which unsealing was sought should remain sealed. For example, Circuit Court Judge Jose
A. Cabranes stated that Maxwell’s lawyer “[couldn’t] possibly be serious” when he argued that
no documents should be made public, even after the case had settled.!
1 Priscilla DeGregory, Documents related to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein may be unsealed, N.Y. Post (Mar. 6,
2019), https://nypost.com/2019/03/06/documents-related-to-pedophile-jeffrey-epstein-may-be-unsealed/,
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| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00004928.jpg |
| File Size | 795.8 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.4% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,293 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:54:40.304747 |