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Ghislaine Maxwell: Epstein accuser's account of Prince Andrew tryst is 'ludicrous'

In a 2016 deposition, Maxwell pointed to the size of her bathtub in rejecting the allegations by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
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Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a display while announcing charges against Ghislaine Maxwell in New York City on July 2.Johannes Eisele / AFP via Getty Images

Ghislaine Maxwell said in a deposition in 2016 that a woman's account of engaging in sexual activity with Prince Andrew in a bathtub in her home couldn't be true because "the tub is too small," according to a transcript released Thursday.

Maxwell dodged questions about whether Prince Andrew ever had sex with the woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, but insisted that it never happened in her London home.

"Her entire ludicrous and absurd story of what took place in my house is an obvious lie," Maxwell said, according to the 400-plus-page transcript.

"She then characterized things that took place in my bathroom in the bathtub itself," Maxwell said. "The tub is too small for any type of activity whatsoever."

In previous interviews with NBC News and other media outlets, Giuffre has said she engaged in sexual activity with the prince at Maxwell's home, starting in the bathroom and moving to a bedroom.

Representatives for Andrew declined to comment. He has previously denied the allegations and has said he has no recollection of ever having met Giuffre. He has also suggested that a photograph showing the two of them together may have been doctored.

IMAGE: Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell
Virginia Roberts Giuffre with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell at the prince's London home in a photo released with court documents.

Federal prosecutors in New York said in March that Andrew had "shut the door" on cooperating in the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network.

Representatives for Maxwell didn't respond to a request for comment.

The deposition was among more than 800 pages of documents that Maxwell, who is locked up on charges that she helped Epstein sexually abuse young girls, had long fought to keep out of public view.

The documents stem from a defamation lawsuit filed against Maxwell in 2015 by Giuffre, who has alleged that Epstein sexually abused her and that Maxwell and Epstein directed her to have sex with other men from 2000 to 2002. The case, which Giuffre brought after Maxwell accused her of lying when she said Maxwell and Epstein had exploited and abused her, was eventually settled.

Over two days of interviews with Giuffre's attorneys, Maxwell struck a combative and at times elusive stance, refusing to answer several questions and repeatedly denying knowledge of Epstein's engaging in sexual activity with underage girls.

"I never saw any inappropriate underage activities with Jeffrey ever," Maxwell said, according to the transcript.

When asked whether Epstein had a sexual preference for underage minors, Maxwell said: "I cannot tell you what Jeffrey's story is. I'm not able to."

"I am not addressing any questions about consensual adult sex," Maxwell also said during the deposition.

Maxwell did, however, explain why she stayed in touch with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution.

"I'm a very loyal person and Jeffrey was very good to me when my father passed away," Maxwell said, according to the transcript.

"And I believe that you need to be a good friend in people's hour of need and I felt that it was a very thoughtful, nice thing for me to do," she said.

She said she helped Epstein with "staffing issues" at his home. She added that when she stopped doing work for him in 2009, she was being paid under $500,000.

"I did it out of thoughtfulness and consideration for somebody who was in trouble," Maxwell said.

Before the release of the transcript, there was speculation that others in Epstein's orbit could be outed. But the deposition, which includes dozens of redactions, reveals no names of people who associated with Epstein.

At one point in the deposition, Maxwell acknowledged that she had flown on Epstein's planes with former President Bill Clinton, but she said "I couldn't characterize Jeffrey's relationship" with Clinton, according to the transcript.

Reached for comment Thursday, a spokesperson for Clinton referred to a statement issued last year.

"President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York," the statement says.

Former Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz, who has denied allegations that he sexually abused Giuffre when she was a minor, took the unusual step of filing a letter to the court Thursday evening requesting that his name be unredacted in the Maxwell deposition and other newly-unsealed documents.

Dershowitz notes that "his name appears multiple times within the transcript" but has been subject to redaction. "Professor Dershowitz, however, desires just the opposite - and requests that his name be fully displayed in the transcript where it appears,” the letter says.

Maxwell's deposition testimony is part of the federal charges filed against her this summer. Prosecutors say she helped Epstein sexually abuse young girls in the mid-1990s and participated in some of the abuse herself.

Maxwell has also been charged with perjury in connection with her deposition testimony. She has pleaded not guilty.

Maxwell is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, just across the river from the federal prison in Manhattan where Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Attorneys for Maxwell had argued that the deposition transcripts should remain sealed to protect her right to a fair trial and because they include sensitive information.

But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Maxwell on Monday, calling the arguments "meritless." A federal judge in New York ordered the documents to be released Tuesday.

Giuffre said Wednesday night on Twitter that she was "very grateful" for the decision to release the deposition.

"This journey to justice has taken decades for my fellow abuse survivors and me, including years in which our voices were ignored," Giuffre said.

"Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein did not act alone. With more transparency, I am hopeful that all who helped perpetrate these heinous crimes will be held accountable," she said.

The records were released nearly three months after a trove of documents from the case were made public.

The records included emails between Epstein and Maxwell from as recently as 2015, apparently contradicting her claims to a judge that she had had no contact with him for over a decade.

In one typo-filled email, dated Jan. 25, 2015, Epstein wrote: "You have done nothing wrong and i woudl urge you to start acting like it. go outside, head high, not as an esacping convict. go to parties. deal with it."

2016