Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 130 Filed 02/01/21 Page 1 of 3
LAW OFFICES OF BOBBI C. STERNHEIA
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February 1, 2021
Honorable Alison J. Nathan
United States District Judge
United States Courthouse
40 Foley Square
New York, NY 10007
Re. United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell
20 Cr. 330 (AJN)
Dear Judge Nathan:
By letter to the Court, dated January 25, 2021 (Dkt.117 at 2-3), the MDC raised objection
to the Court’s order, unopposed by the government, directing the MDC to permit Ms. Maxwell to
use on a laptop computer on weekends and holidays. (Dkt. 116 at 2). The MDC has failed to
state a valid or compelling reason for opposing the Court’s directive.
The MDC does not identify any valid reason why Ms. Maxwell cannot have access to the
laptop computer on weekends and holidays. The MDC does not argue, for example, that access
to the laptop cannot be provided because of issues related to safety or security, staffing, or (to
quote the government) the need to “manag[e] its inmate population.” Instead, in opposition to
the Court’s order, the MDC repeats its stock response: Ms. Maxwell has received significant
amount of time to review her discovery and has more contact with counsel than any other MDC
inmate is allotted. The MDC’s fixation on the relative time Ms. Maxwell has been given to
review discovery is totally misguided. The government has produced millions of pages of
discovery. Ms. Maxwell has the right to review all of them in order to prepare her defense for
trial. To do that, she needs access to the laptop for as much time as possible, including the
weekends and holidays because the prison computers are incapable of reading the millions of
discovery documents. Ms. Maxwell loses 10 or more hours per week due to delay in receiving
the laptop, problems caused by the MDC computer, and inability to access the computer during
morning and afternoon counts on the weekends. Comparing Ms. Maxwell to other inmates does
not justify restricting her use of the laptop to review discovery.
The MDC’s proposed solution—that Ms. Maxwell can simply use the prison computer on
the weekends and holidays to review discovery—is utterly inadequate. As Ms. Maxwell has
pointed out on many occasions, the prison computer is incapable of reading a significant portion
of the discovery, including but not limited to native files, Excel files, some video and audio files,
and anything requiring Cellebrite software. The MDC concedes this fact in their letter—Ms.
Maxwell cannot review all of her discovery on the prison computer. And using it causes a
colossal waste of time. For example, if Ms. Maxwell locates a document on the prison computer
DOJ-OGR- 00002339