Document 22433

LAW OFFICES OF BOBBI C. STERNHEIM 212-243-1100 • Main 917-306-6666 • Cell 888-587-4737 • Fax 33 West 19th Stre New York, N bc@st April 26, 2021 Honorable Alison J. Nathan United States District Judge United States Courthouse 40 Foley Square New York, NY 10007 Re: United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell S2 20 Cr. 330 (AJN) Dear Judge Nathan: I write to report an incident stemming from an attorney-client conference with Ghislaine Maxwell: Guards on Ms. Maxwell's security detail wrongfully seized and reviewed her confidential legal documents and then intimidated Ms. Maxwell by standing over her as she used the bathroom after threatening her with a disciplinary infraction. This incident has further compromised Ms. Maxwell's ability to prepare for trial, to confer with counsel, and to retain confidential legal documents. In addition, intimidation and humiliation by guards has further exacerbated Ms. Maxwell's feelings of insecurity due to officious power exerted upon her by guards. On Saturday, April 24, 2021, Leah Saffian, Esq. and I attended a pre-scheduled in-person legal conference with Ms. Maxwell in the MDC. The entire 2.5-hour conference was conducted under the constant watch of four to five guards, including a lieutenant, with a camera on a tripod focused on Ms. Maxwell and counsel while recording audio and video, and captured on surveillance cameras affixed within the visiting room. After counsel left the facility, Ms. Maxwell called me to report that her legal papers were confiscated. Later that day, I received an email from Sophia Papapetru, MDC legal counsel, which stated: It has been brought to my attention by the staff of MDC Brooklyn that Ms. Maxwell received paperwork that was not in her possession upon entering the legal visiting area. As you are aware, the policies set forth for MDC Brooklyn legal visits do not allow for passing of any material during a legal visit. Due to our policy and procedures, the additional documents that were provided to Ms. Maxwell were confiscated. Those materials were put in an envelope and will be returned to you tomorrow upon your arrival to the institution. Please note, that you may put these documents in the legal mailbox in the lobby of the east building. See Exhibit A. USDC SDNY DOCUMENT ELECTRONICALLY FILED DOC #: DATE FILED: 4/27/21 MDC legal counsel is hereby ORDERED to show cause by April 28, 2021 why an order directing the MDC to provide the information requested in this letter to the Defendant's counsel ought not issue. MDC legal counsel shall either docket it on ECF or email the letter to the Court so that the Court can docket it on ECF. Chambers will email a copy of this Order directly to legal counsel for the MDC. SO ORDERED. 4/27/21 Alison J. Nathan, U.S.D.J. --- PAGE BREAK --- LAW OFFICES OF BOBBI C. STERNHEIM I emailed the following response to Ms. Papapetru: Your accusation is inaccurate as is the information reported to you by your staff. Nothing in Ms. Maxwell's legal papers was given to her by me or by Leah Saffian, Esq. Both Ms. Saffian and I dispute these allegations in the strongest terms. Today, Ms. Saffian and I met with Ghislaine Maxwell for a scheduled legal visit- under the gaze of 5 guards and a portable camera recording audio and video. After the legal visit concluded and Ms. Saffian and I left the visiting area, guards accused Ms. Maxwell of possessing documents obtained from counsel. The guards seized confidential documents from her, including documents she had previously received in legal mail delivered to the MDC and given to her by MDC staff. After seizing "highly confidential" documents (subject to a protective order that your staff is not authorized to review) and work product, the guards began reading the documents and have not returned them to Ms. Maxwell. At no time did the guards, who were assiduously watching and filming the legal conference, bring any concern to my attention, so it is quite telling that you have been contacted when counsel are told that legal staff are unavailable during the weekend. No documents were given to Ms. Maxwell for her retention. Demand is hereby made for an immediate identification of the documents you claim were not in Ms. Maxwell's possession upon entering the legal visiting area in advance of the arrival of counsel, a list of all guards present during the visit, and a copy of the video recording. Please immediately return the confiscated legal documents to Ms. Maxwell. They are her documents, not mine. The confiscation of these documents has deprived Ms. Maxwell of her time and seriously impaired her ability to review legal documents and prepare for an upcoming trial, adding to an already difficult situation. This matter is being reported to the Court and legal action will be initiated. See Exhibit B. A notice and demand to preserve items of evidence has been sent to Ms. Papapetru. See Exhibit C. Confiscation and Review of Confidential Legal Documents In advance of previous in-person legal visits, guards have gone through Ms. Maxwell's legal papers. In a break from such protocol, the guards did not do so prior to commencement of the legal visit on Saturday. After the legal conference and departure of counsel, the guards seized all of Ms. Maxwell's legal papers, consisting of multiple letter-sized manilla folders containing documents and a composition notebook within a Redweld folder. The guards told Ms. Maxwell they believed she improperly retained documents given to her by her attorneys and that this was a 2 DOJ-OGR-00004028 --- PAGE BREAK --- Case: 2020r00038-BAJN Document: 22433 Filed: 04/22/2021 Page 6 of 9 From: BOBBI C STERNHEIM bcsternheim@mac.com Subject: Ghislaine Maxwell 02879-509 Legal Visit 04.24.21 Date: April 24, 2021 at 5:37 PM To: Sophia Papapetru spapapetru@bop.gov Cc: Leah Saffian leahsaffian@hstednet.net, Christian Everdell CEverdell@cohengregresser.com, Laura Menninger lmenninger@hmflaw.com, Jeff Pagliuca jpagliuca@hmflaw.com Sophia- Your accusation is inaccurate as is the information reported to you by your staff. Nothing in Ms. Maxwell's legal papers was given to her by me or by Leah Saffian, Esq. Both Ms. Saffian and I dispute these allegations in the strongest terms. Today, Ms. Saffian and I met with Ghislaine Maxwell for a scheduled legal visit- under the gaze of 5 guards and a portable camera recording audio and video. After the legal visit concluded and Ms. Saffian and I left the visiting area, guards accused Ms. Maxwell of possessing documents obtained from counsel. The guards seized confidential documents from her, including documents she had previously received in legal mail delivered to the MDC and given to her by MDC staff. After seizing "highly confidential" documents (subject to a protective order that your staff is not authorized to review) and work product, the guards began reading the documents and have not returned them to Ms. Maxwell. At no time did the guards, who were assiduously watching and filming the legal conference, bring any concern to my attention, so it is quite telling that you have been contacted when counsel are told that legal staff are unavailable during the weekend. No documents were given to Ms. Maxwell for her retention. Demand is hereby made for an immediate identification of the documents you claim were not in Ms. Maxwell's possession upon entering the legal visiting area in advance of the arrival of counsel, a list of all guards present during the visit, and a copy of the video recording. Please immediately return the confiscated legal documents to Ms. Maxwell. They are her documents, not mine. The confiscation of these documents has deprived Ms. Maxwell of her time and seriously impaired her ability to review legal documents and prepare for an upcoming trial, adding to an already difficult situation. This matter is being reported to the Court and legal action will be initiated. Regarding tomorrow- I have received 15 different confirmations and cancellations regarding the scheduled visit for tomorrow, which will be attended by Ms. Saffian alone. I am sorting through these emails to determine what time period is permitted for tomorrow's visit. Bobbi BOBBI C. STERNHEIM, ESQ. Law Offices of Bobbi C. Sternheim 33 West 19th Street - 4th Floor New York, NY 10011 Main: 212-243-1100 Cell: 917-912-9698 Fax: 888-587-4737 bcsternheim@mac.com This message and any attached documents contain information from the Law Offices of Bobbi C. Sternheim that may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not read, copy, distribute, or use this information. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and then delete this message. Thank you. On Apr 24, 2021, at 4:07 PM, Sophia Papapetru <spapapetru@bop.gov> wrote: Good afternoon Bobbi: It had been brought to my attention by the staff of MDC Brooklyn that Ms. Maxwell received paperwork that was not in her possession upon entering the legal visiting area. As you are aware, the policies set forth for MDC Brooklyn legal visits do not allow for passing of any material during a legal visit. Due to our policy and procedures, the additional documents that were provided to Ms. Maxwell were confiscated. Those materials were put in an envelope and will be returned to you tomorrow upon your arrival to the institution. Please note that you must these documents in the legal mail box in the lobby, as the next building EXHIBIT B DOJ-OGR-00004032 --- PAGE BREAK --- Case#: 2020-cr-00083-BAEN Document#: 22433 Filed#: 04/26/21 Page#: 8 of 9 LAW OFFICES OF BOBBI C. STERNHEIM 212-243-1100 * Main 33 West 19th Street - 4th Floor 917-306-6666 * Cell New York, New York 10011 888-587-4737 * Fax bc@sternheimlaw.com April 26, 2021 VIA EMAIL AND U.S. MAIL Sophia Papapetru, Esq. Legal Counsel Metropolitan Detention Center 80 29th Street Brooklyn, NY 11232 spapapetru@bop.gov NOTICE AND DEMAND TO PRESERVE ITEMS OF EVIDENCE Re: Ghislaine Maxwell 02879-509 Dear Ms. Papapetru: As counsel for Ghislaine Maxwell, 02879-054, I am notifying you, as legal counsel for the Metropolitan Detention Center, of the MDC's obligation to preserve documents and evidence related to (i) allegations made against Ms. Maxwell and her counsel regarding legal paperwork allegedly passed to Ms. Maxwell during an attorney-client conference on April 24, 2021 and (ii) the confiscation and review of Ms. Maxwell's documents by MDC staff. As stated in my April 24th email, material relevant to this dispute includes, but is not limited to: - Any images, data files, or video recordings of the legal conference as captured on the hand-held camera focused on Ms. Maxwell and counsel during the entirety of the legal conference. - Any images, data files, or video recordings of the legal conference as captured on surveillance cameras focused on Ms. Maxwell and counsel during the entirety of the legal conference. - The full names of all guards, including the lieutenant, present in the visiting room during the legal conference. - Any written or recorded communications, whether stored in electronic, digital or paper format, obtained in connection with the incident identified above. - A list of all documents claimed to be in Ms. Maxwell's possession upon entering the visiting room. This request includes copies of any such documents or notes regarding same. EXHIBIT C DOJ-OGR-00004034