X (the website formerly known as Twitter) is reportedly refusing subpoena requests related to a lawsuit involving the late financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Why? No one knows, but it’s certainly odd.
According to Business Insider, the social media platform is refusing to provide information about one of the accounts linked to an Epstein accuser, a woman named Lina Oh-Amen. The lawsuit is unrelated to the platform itself and concerns a spat between Oh-Amen and another, more well-known Epstein accuser, Virginia Giuffre.
Both women say they were victimized by Epstein, but the dispute between them includes mutual accusations that they were involved in his criminal conduct.
Insider Report:
[Ghislaine] Maxwell recruited Giuffre at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2000 and brought her to Epstein. Giuffre has accused O. Amen of sexually and physically abusing her in the early 2000s and of participating in the abuse. In 2021, O. Amen filed a lawsuit alleging that Giuffre defamed her with those allegations. Giuffre countersued, claiming that O. Amen was Epstein’s “girlfriend.” In court documents and public statements, each side accuses the other of acting as one of Epstein’s recruiters rather than a true victim.
“Legal discovery is currently underway to obtain evidence relevant to this case, and both women’s lawyers are contacting relevant third parties. As part of this process, Ms. Giuffre attempted to access one of Mr. Oh Amen’s X accounts, which contained records of his interactions with Ms. Giuffre. The account had previously been suspended, and Mr. Oh Amen was locked out and had access to his DMs blocked.
While it would seem simple for Giuffre’s lawyers to simply request access to the accounts, Insider reports that lawyers representing X “countered with cryptic, lengthy, legalese-filled responses, stating that they could not provide any records,” and in one case, a company lawyer wrote that “Oh Amen had access to X’s records and could ask her questions, even though the purpose of the subpoena was that Oh Amen could not access her data from her account.”
Gizmodo reached out to X for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Who knows what X is up to here? As of May, X founder and former CEO Elon Musk was embroiled in another Epstein-related lawsuit. The U.S. Virgin Islands, the territory where Epstein’s infamous “pedophile island” was located, subpoenaed Musk earlier this year for any communications he had with Epstein and JPMorgan Chase. The Virgin Islands is now suing JPMorgan Chase, accusing the bank of aiding Epstein’s crimes. Musk has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, but he is one of several Silicon Valley notables (including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page) who have been subpoenaed.