A judge has ordered prosecutors to disclose the identities of Ghislaine Maxwell's alleged co-conspirators to her defense team.
On Friday, US District Judge Alison Nathan gave prosecutors in New York an October 11 deadline to 'disclose all co-conspirator statements it intends to offer at trial' as well as their identities.
The court documents do not reveal the identities of the potential co-conspirators to be called at the November trial, although many expect the government to call on other women whom sex predator Jeffrey Epstein used as alleged recruiters and groomers.
Prosecutors had argued that disclosing the identities of co-conspirators could damage its case, but Judge Nathan wrote that they had provided 'no explanation for this purported harm and none is apparent to the Court.'
A judge has ordered prosecutors to disclose the identities of Ghislaine Maxwell's alleged co-conspirators to her defense team. She is seen above with Epstein in 2005
Maxwell is seen in a court sketch. Judge Alison Nathan gave prosecutors in New York an October 11 deadline to 'disclose all co-conspirator statements it intends to offer at trial'
The judge wrote that concern 'does not outweigh the risk of surprise to the Defendant in this case.'
Nathan noted that the prosecution had not argued that revealing the identities would put the co-conspirators at risk of harm, or damage any ongoing investigations.
Maxwell, who has been in federal custody in Brooklyn since her arrest last July, is charged with grooming and recruiting girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse in a sex trafficking conspiracy.
Last week, prosecutors claimed that Maxwell tried to 'barricade' herself in the video conference room of the Metropolitan Detention Center with a cart of legal documents.
There have been disputes about her cell not being clean, allegations she doesn't flush her toilet and Maxwell filed a picture of herself with a black eye to suggest she had been beaten up.
In a letter to federal court in New York, prosecutors said that Maxwell had been able in the past to bring a 'cart full of legal materials' into the video conference room, or VTC.
Prosecutors have claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell tried to 'barricade' herself in the video conference room in prison with a cart of legal documents
They wrote: 'However, the defendant used that cart to barricade the door to the VTC room, thereby preventing MDC staff from being able to access the room.
'Because of the security threat posed by the use of the cart to barricade the door to the VTC room, the defendant is no longer permitted to bring the cart into the room.
'Instead, the defendant may bring whatever materials she can carry into the room, and if she needs other materials during a particular meeting with counsel, she may leave the VTC room, retrieve those materials by hand, and then return to her meeting with counsel'.
The letter was in response to complaints from Maxwell's lawyers that her access to video conferences had been disrupted.
Her attorneys claimed that her screen went 'in and out, and her screen often turned green and became blurry'.
They claim that Maxwell created a 'security threat' by blocking the door and preventing guards from accessing the room at the Metropolitan Detention Center, in Brooklyn
During one call somebody other than Maxwell appeared on the screen, suggesting it was insecure.
In response prosecutors said that after the incident the MDC switched to another form of video conferencing which was more secure.
Maxwell lawyer Bobbi Sternheim said Maxwell 'never' tried to block her door with the cart and stop the guards getting in.
She wrote in a letter that prosecutors 'cannot resist the opportunity to gratuitously cast Ghislaine Maxwell in a negative light while it defends the Metropolitan Detention Center at all costs'.