Ghislaine Maxwell's Attorneys Believe Their Private Video Conferences Are Being Taped By Prison Officials Ahead Of Sex Trafficking Trial

In documents obtained by Radar, the disgraced socialite's attorney Bobbi Sternheim fired off a letter to the judge demanding the Metropolitan Detention Center's [MDC] lawyers prove a "sworn statement regarding whether any VTCs [video teleconferences] between Ms. Maxwell and counsel have been interfered with, listened to, and/or recorded."

According to Sternheim, something funny began happening during their recent sessions.

Ghislaine's legal team claims they began using the VTCs in December 2019 and had "no problems" with the platform other than a June 14 incident, where their client's visibility was "severely impacted," making it hard to "see counsel and documents shown to her."

Fast-forward to August 6, when MDC informed Ghislaine's team they "could no longer use" the platform for VTCs and were moving to Zoom, using "access codes provided by the MDC."

In the documents, Sternheim claims they were told that the change was made because of "complaints made by Ms. Maxwell."

She notes that since the switch there has been "interruption in Ms. Maxwell’s VTC signal and bandwidth," which she claims suggests "her connection was split."

Ghislaine's lawyer found it suspicious that after her client raised concerns to staff members, MDC "immediately provided a 'more secure' link."

According to Sternheim, this "suggests there was some type of breach or interference with the attorney-client VTC." She also says their suspicions are "placing an on-going [sic] chill on communication between Ms. Maxwell and her defense team," making it hard for them to prepare for her upcoming sex trafficking trial.

She claims a third party accessed their Zoom with Ghislaine on August 12. "Third parties are not supposed to have access," Sternheim says in the documents, adding, "This breach was reported to, and I believe witnessed by, MDC staff, including an MDC technician named Leon who is tasked with dealing with Ms. Maxwell’s electronics issues."

After Ghislaine's attorney send MDC legal an email about the alleged issue, the prison's legal team allegedly responded by insuring her "there was no breach," claiming it was "a miscommunication on our end internally."

She also alleges that Ghislaine has gone multiple days without being able to access VCTs.

On the third day without VCTs, Sternheim claims she told MDC Legal that the defense "has reason to be concerned that VTCs between Ms. Maxwell and counsel may have been tape recorded by the MDC, a concern that accords with our belief that there has been inference with the VTCs on the MDC’s end."

She wants answers as to why Ghislaine's communication platform changed and why her issues with the technology haven't been resolved.

Sternheim is also demanding MDC legal provide a "sworn statement" as to whether their VCTs have been "interfered with, listened to, and/or recorded."