The British socialite accused of recruiting Jeffrey Epstein‘s teen “sex slave” Virginia Roberts says she never called Roberts an outright liar — and so the defamation lawsuit against her should be tossed out.
Lawyers for both “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell and Roberts, 32, were in Manhattan fed court Thursday arguing over statements Maxwell made that referred to Roberts’ allegations as “untrue” and “obvious lies.”
Roberts — who now goes by her married last name Giuffre — sued Maxwell in September, saying her public denial counts as defamation.
“The statement that the allegations are untrue are about as plain vanilla as one can find,” Maxwell’s lawyer Laura Menninger told Judge Robert Sweet.
“Saying the allegations are untrue are tantamount to general denial.”
But Roberts’ attorney said she’s suffered personal and professional harm over Maxwell’s statements, which were published by the British media and picked up elsewhere.
“The statements that [Roberts] lied … are statements that expose her to public contempt and ridicule,” said her lawyer Sigrid McCawley.
Neither Roberts nor Maxwell appeared in court for the brief hearing.
McCawley told the judge that Roberts, who now lives in Colorado, has been “beaten down” since breaking her silence that Maxwell introduced her to billionaire pedophile Epstein in 1999.
Roberts also accused Maxwell of pimping her out to Prince Andrew — the second son of Queen Elizabeth — and famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
Both men have vehemently denied involvement.
“I see no other allegation that is worse than calling a sex-abuse victim a liar,” McCawley said.
Sweet will rule on whether to dismiss Roberts’ suit at a later date.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage prostitute and served 13 months of an 18-month jail sentence.
Maxwell is the daughter of the late British media tycoon Robert Maxwell.