Prosecutors signal more charges could be forthcoming in Maxwell sex abuse case

The U.S. attorney's office in New York is signaling more criminal charges could be forthcoming in their grand jury investigation into an underage sex ring allegedly involving the late Jeffrey Epstein, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and others.

"The investigation into the conduct of the defendant in this case and other possible co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein remains active,” federal prosecutors wrote in a filing Friday that defended their work obtaining sealed court documents to use in indicting Maxwell. “The full scope and details of that investigation, however, have not been made public.”

The prosecutors rejected defense arguments that their use of a grand jury subpoena to obtain Maxwell's sealed deposition in an earlier lawsuit was inappropriate and should be excluded. Maxwell's lawyers are fighting to keep the deposition secret but prosecutors obtained it already under a court order and used it to bring charges against Maxwell, who has pleaded innocent. 

“Defense counsel’s overheated rhetoric notwithstanding, there is simply nothing nefarious about the government obtaining materials through grand jury subpoena process, let alone anything about the manner in which the government obtained these materials that warrant the relief requested," prosecutors wrote.

The filing came just days after a photo was published in a British newspaper showing former President Bill Clinton getting a massage from an alleged victim of Epstein. The former president has denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Epstein, who was convicted of a crime in the early 2000s and committed suicide after being indicted in new sex charges last year.