When did Virginia Giuffre first testify about meeting Ghislaine Maxwell?

1. How Giuffre’s allegations entered the public record

Giuffre’s allegations about meeting Ghislaine Maxwell were formalized in a civil complaint filed against Maxwell in the Southern District of New York in September 2015; that lawsuit and its associated depositions produced sworn statements and documents that set out her account of being approached at Mar‑a‑Lago and taken to Epstein’s Palm Beach home ^{[1] [2]}. Large batches of those court documents and a motion to unseal later made the detailed allegations more widely accessible to journalists and the public ^[3].

2. Earlier media interviews and reporting

Independent reporting and interviews with Giuffre in subsequent years repeated and expanded on the narrative that she met Maxwell at Mar‑a‑Lago around 2000 when she was a teenager and was introduced to Epstein; outlets such as The Cut and others quoted her accounts and referenced the deposition and court materials that had circulated since the 2015 filing ^[5]. Those media stories relied on the court-record timeline and Giuffre’s own statements made in civil filings and public interviews ^{[5] [2]}.

3. Documentary evidence and unsealed documents

A substantial trove of documents tied to the Epstein‑Maxwell litigation was unsealed in batches, including deposition transcripts and internal emails; those files include references to Giuffre and the circumstances under which she says she met Maxwell ^[3]. News outlets like The Guardian reported on emails and materials from that tranche which show Maxwell’s team and associates discussing Giuffre and efforts to discredit her—further situating when and how her allegations were circulated in legal and media contexts ^[4].

4. Did Giuffre “testify” at Maxwell’s criminal trial?

Giuffre did not serve as a witness at Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 criminal trial in the Southern District of New York; reporting and later commentary have noted she was not called to testify, though other witnesses (including Epstein’s former housekeeper Juan Alessi) mentioned her and recounted how Maxwell first met the teenage Giuffre outside Mar‑a‑Lago ^{[6] [7]}. News coverage explains prosecutors made strategic choices about which witnesses to present in that criminal case ^{[6] [7]}.

5. Public memoirs, later interviews and continuing narrative

Subsequent interviews and, per later excerpts and reporting, a memoir further described Giuffre’s account of meeting Maxwell at Mar‑a‑Lago and her experiences thereafter; outlets have cited her own words about the first encounter and the role Maxwell played in bringing her to Epstein ^{[8] [9]}. These post‑litigation narratives reinforce the timeline first entered into the public record via the 2015 civil suit and depositions ^{[1] [2]}.

6. Competing viewpoints and limits of the public record

Maxwell and her defense teams sought to discredit parts of Giuffre’s account during litigation—documents show Maxwell’s advisers discussed media material aiming to undermine Giuffre’s credibility ^[4]. Available sources do not mention every detail of pre‑2015 private conversations, and they do not provide an independent forensic timeline beyond Giuffre’s sworn statements and corroborating witness testimony contained in the unsealed files ^{[3] [2]}. Court strategy, evidentiary choices, and later reporting all shaped which parts of Giuffre’s story were presented in open court versus civil filings ^{[6] [7]}.

7. Bottom line for your question

If your question is about the first time Giuffre “testified” publicly about meeting Maxwell, the clearest, documented public entry point is the September 2015 civil complaint and the depositions that followed; those filings and the later-unsealed documents are the first widely available sworn sources describing her meeting with Maxwell at Mar‑a‑Lago and being taken to Epstein’s Palm Beach home ^{[1] [2] [3]}.