Full Text
The Honorable Alison J. Nathan
July 21, 2020
Page 4
Although Ms. Strauss sprinkled her comments with the phrase "as alleged," she presented certain of her statements as fact.3 Regardless, after Ms. Strauss's remarks, FBI Special Agent William Sweeney went even further, calling Ms. Maxwell "one of the villains in this investigation" and compared her to a snake that "slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire." Thus, Mr. Sweeney offers the Government's, again flatly wrong, opinions about character and guilt while, at the same time, invoking a semi-biblical reference involving a snake slithering away to a garden in New Hampshire. These types of comments, which serve no compelling law enforcement or investigatory purpose, are prohibited by the local rules of this District.
New York attorney David Boies and his partner Sigrid McCawley, who represent several witnesses in this matter, have also made public and presumptively prejudicial statements in recent days, notwithstanding the fact that such conduct is prohibited by Local Rule 23.1, which applies to lawyers practicing in this District, generally, and lawyers for witnesses, specifically. See Rule 23.1(a) and (b).
As reported by the Washington Post, Mr. Boies expressed his views on the prohibited subject of "the possibility of a plea of guilty to the offense charged or a lesser offense" in violation of sections (d)(5) and (7) of the Rule:
Boies said he thinks Maxwell will be 'under tremendous pressure to cooperate' as she looks for ways to shave time off what may be a significant prison sentence. Maxwell could potentially help prosecutors shed light on Epstein's dealings with other wealthy and influential people who may have had encounters with underaged victims, he said, adding 'There were a lot of people with a lot of public stature who were involved with Epstein.'4
Ms. McCawley echoed Mr. Boies, saying that, "The pain [Maxwell] has caused will never go away but today is a step toward healing." Id.
Bradley Edwards, another attorney representing witnesses in this matter made similar presumptively prejudicial statements following Ms. Maxwell's arrest.5
'The reality of how this organization worked was that 99.9% of it was orchestrated for Jeffrey Epstein's personal sexual satisfaction. So to the degree that um there was a main facilitator that started the whole thing, it was Ghislaine.'
3 A purported transcript of the press conference is contained on the internet at https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/announcement-transcript-of-charges-against-ghislaine-maxwell-in-new-york-jeffrey-epstein-associate-arrested.
4 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ghislaine-maxwell-arrested-jeffrey-epstein/2020/07/02/20c74502-bc69-11ea-8cf5-9c1b8d7f84c6_story.html
5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDKHdzix2kQ
App.034
DOJ-OGR-00019493