What year did Virginia Roberts allege she met Ghislaine Maxwell?

1. The commonly reported year: “Summer of 2000”

Major news reports and summaries — including a detailed Palm Beach Post timeline and profiles of Giuffre and Maxwell — report that Giuffre met Maxwell at Mar‑a‑Lago in the summer of 2000 when she was a teenager, and those accounts are the basis for much of the public narrative about how Giuffre entered Epstein’s orbit ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Giuffre’s own accounts and memoir excerpts

Giuffre’s posthumous memoir and excerpts published in major outlets recount her meeting Maxwell and Epstein in 2000; Vanity Fair’s excerpt frames that initial contact as occurring in the summer of 2000 when Giuffre was about 16, and later reporting of the memoir repeats that chronology ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Court filings and depositions reflect the same timeline

Legal documents unsealed in litigation and Maxwell’s own deposition have long been part of the public record surrounding Giuffre’s allegations; those filings, as reported and excerpted by news organizations, are consistent with Giuffre’s statement that she entered Epstein’s circle beginning in 2000 ^{[5] [6]}.

4. Photographs, trial testimony and contemporaneous descriptions

Trial testimony and photographs shown during Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial referenced Giuffre as a teenager seen at Mar‑a‑Lago and at Epstein properties; reporting around the trial similarly situates the initial meeting in the early 2000s, supporting the broader 2000 dating in media accounts ^{[7] [1]}.

5. Discrepancies and limits in the public record

While the public record and multiple outlets converge on 2000, some sources emphasize “the summer of 2000,” others note Giuffre was “about 16,” and legal texts sometimes avoid restating exact years in narrative excerpts; available sources do not present a conflicting year, but they do rely on Giuffre’s testimony and memoir for chronological detail rather than independent contemporaneous documentation ^{[1] [3] [5]}. Available sources do not mention independently verifiable documents from 2000 (for example, a dated hiring sheet or a contemporaneous contact log) that would incontrovertibly fix the date beyond Giuffre’s accounts and related reporting ^{[1] [5]}.

6. Why the year matters — context and contested narratives

The timing is central to questions about Giuffre’s age at recruitment and the extent of Maxwell’s role in introducing her to Epstein; Giuffre and many news reports say Maxwell recruited her at Mar‑a‑Lago in 2000, and Maxwell’s defenders in legal settings have disputed aspects of Giuffre’s claims ^{[1] [6]}. Court documents show Maxwell’s lawyers challenged Giuffre’s credibility at times during depositions, which is why public reporting often pairs Giuffre’s statement of meeting Maxwell in 2000 with notes about legal contestation ^{[6] [5]}.

7. Multiple outlets, same headline — convergence, not independent corroboration

Coverage from The Palm Beach Post, Wikipedia summaries, trial reporting and later memoir excerpts all align on 2000; that convergence strengthens the claim’s prominence in public discourse but does not, in the sources provided, include a separately sourced contemporaneous record produced in 2000 that independently verifies the exact date ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

8. Bottom line for readers

Based on available reporting, court filings and Giuffre’s own public accounts, Virginia Roberts/Giuffre alleges she met Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar‑a‑Lago in the summer of 2000 when she was about 16 ^{[1] [3]}. Sources are consistent on that year, but the materials provided do not include an independent contemporaneous document that conclusively proves the date beyond Giuffre’s testimony and subsequent reporting ^{[5] [1]}.