A judge has thrown out Ghislaine Maxwell's request to allow her witnesses to testify anonymously.
Maxwell is charged with six counts alleging that she recruited, groomed, and abused four underage girls between 1994 and 2004. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges and faces 80 years in prison if found guilty on all counts.
She is accused of helping financier Epstein abuse underage girls between 1994 and 2004. She denies all charges against her.
Maxwell argued that three witnesses lined up to speak in her favor might pull out unless they were granted the same right to secrecy as her alleged victims.
However, Judge Alison Nathan rejected the "unprecedented request" by citing the "constitutional right" of the press and public to know a courtroom witness's identity.
Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim had claimed that unless the trio could testify in privacy, it could "impact the willingness of these witnesses to testify, thereby compromising Maxwell's right to present her defense".
But in a blow to the British socialite, the judge said if her witnesses refused to testify, her lawyers could force them to by issuing a court summons.
It comes as Maxwell's family said she is "too fragile" to give evidence about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew.
A spokesperson for the Maxwell family told The Telegraph that it is "unlikely" she will testify as she is "too fragile".
By not taking the witness stand, the 59-year-old will avoid being probed about her relationship with Epstein, as well as other well-known friends who have been mentioned in the trial.
That includes Prince Andrew, who is being sued by longtime Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Guiffre, for allegedly sexually abusing her when she was just 17 years old. The Duke of York has denied all allegations against him.
Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 at her New Hampshire home, and has since denied any involvement in the incidents of sex trafficking that her now-deceased ex-partner, Epstein, was accused of.
Epstein's final cause of death was revealed to be suicide by hanging in his jail cell in August 2019. This took place as he awaited, without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.
While the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, his death had sparked numerous conspiracy theories including that he was murdered.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to all charges and faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted.
