Jeffrey Epstein's ex-lover Ghislaine Maxwell has been granted more time by a federal court as she tries to keep a trove of court papers under wraps which could reveal the names of hundreds of Epstein associates.

Lawyers for Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre have asked for the records from a 2015 court case to be unsealed.

Federal judge Loretta Preska revealed in September that there were 'literally a thousand people' mentioned in some of the documents.

Maxwell's attorneys are trying to block the release and a judge has granted them until December 5 to make their arguments after they demanded an extension.

Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured with Jeffrey Epstein in New York in 2005) is trying to block the release of court documents containing hundreds of names of Epstein associates

In a letter seen by DailyMail.com, attorney Ty Gee wrote that it had proved impossible to meet the original November 19 deadline.

'We respectfully submit that we simply cannot complete the task within the time allotted,' he wrote.

'We conservatively estimate these 350-375 filings comprise more than 3,500 pages.

'To identify the names of the dozens if not hundreds of [third parties] requires a substantial number of hours and cannot be completed by the deadline.

'We submit there is good cause for a 30-day extension of time.'

The sealed documents date back to a 2015 defamation case between Roberts and Maxwell.

More than 2,000 pages of court documents have already been released and lawyers for Roberts want even more material unsealed.

The trove of court filings includes more than two dozen depositions in which hundreds of third parties are mentioned by name.

The records also include hundreds of pages of investigative reports, said Maxwell's attorney Jeff Pagliuca.

'In some of these documents there are literally a thousand people' mentioned, said federal judge Loretta Preska.

An attorney for one of those people warned in September that the documents may contain 'life-changing' disclosures.

Lawyers for Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre (pictured) have asked for the records from a 2015 court case to be unsealed

The documents which were released in September showed that Epstein repeatedly refused to answer questions about alleged abuse.

Epstein pleaded his Fifth Amendment rights when he was asked whether Maxwell had brought him underage girls.

Roberts accuses Maxwell of recruiting young women for Epstein and of taking part in the abuse herself.

She launched the defamation suit in 2015 after claiming that Maxwell had subjected her to 'public ridicule' by allegedly calling her a liar.

'My whole life revolved around just pleasing these men and keeping Ghislaine and Jeffrey happy,' Roberts said in one of the papers.

Maxwell denies all the allegations and the case was settled.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail on August 10 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, which he denied.

At the time of Epstein's arrest, prosecutors said they found a trove of pictures of nude and seminude young women and girls at his $77million Manhattan mansion.

The billionaire financier was already a convicted pedophile after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida.

However, he was jailed for only 18 months after striking a controversial plea agreement with prosecutors which was kept secret at the time.