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News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
‘Pure evil': Epstein survivors and their families horrified as co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell suddenly framed as a ‘victim'
Multiple victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have expressed their disgust at suggestions she could receive 'preferential treatment' from the government, or perhaps even a presidential pardon. They are increasingly, palpably worried that Maxwell's monstrous crimes, particularly those committed against underage girls, are being forgotten. Maxwell, who has never admitted to her role in Epstein's sex trafficking scheme, was the person chiefly responsible for procuring minors for him to abuse. She enticed them into his orbit, groomed them, and used various methods to keep them trapped. The victims have long alleged that Maxwell also participated in the sexual abuse. Last month, as the Trump administration struggled to neutralise a public backlash against its handling of the Epstein files, the man Donald Trump had appointed Deputy Attorney-General – his own former defence lawyer, Todd Blanche – went to visit Maxwell. Mr Blanche spoke to Epstein's partner and chief co-conspirator for two days. Lawyers representing Maxwell, who are currently trying to get the Supreme Court to throw out her convictions on child sex trafficking charges, later said she had discussed about a hundred people connected to the Epstein case. Obvious fears arose among Maxwell's victims. Did the government intend to seek a shortening of her 20-year prison sentence in exchange for her co-operation? Was President Trump open to pardoning her, which would set her free immediately? And how would the obvious conflicts of interest be navigated? Mr Trump, who was friends with Epstein and Maxwell for about 15 years and whose name reportedly appears 'multiple times' in the Epstein files, wants to be absolved of any suggestion he was involved in their crimes (and, we should note, there is at the moment no evidence he was). Maxwell, obviously, wants to get out of jail, something she almost certainly cannot achieve without Mr Trump's grace. Every incentive compels her to be, ahem, helpful to the President. And this is someone with a long record of lying, including while under oath. Perhaps nothing is amiss, but the ingredients for a potentially corrupt quid pro quo are there. You can understand why Epstein's survivors are suspicious. Two other elements have fed into their building unease. First, on the fringes of America's right-wing media, some bloviaters have started to speak of Maxwell as a 'victim'. 'I think this is great,' Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly said last week, for example, referring to the government's overtures towards her. 'I do have a feeling that she just might be a victim. She just might be. There was a rush to judgment, there was a lot of chaos there for a while. 'Granted, she hung out with Jeffrey Epstein, and I know that's apparently not good.' Apparently! (Oh, and Maxwell did much more than merely 'hang out' with Epstein, as we shall explore in a moment. Apparently some folks need to be reminded.) Second, today we learned that the government had quietly moved Maxwell from her jail in Florida to a lower security one in Texas, which houses several female celebrity inmates. The fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is there, for example. Why move Maxwell? That has not been explained. Hence an angry statement released today, co-signed by Annie and Maria Farmer, both of whom were victims of Epstein and Maxwell, plus the family of Virginia Giuffre, who did so much to expose the pair's crimes before taking her own life earlier this year. 'It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,' the statement reads. 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. 'Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security prison. This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes. 'The American public should be enraged by the preferential treatment being given to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender. 'The Trump administration should not credit a word Maxwell says, as the government itself sought charges against her for being a serial liar. 'This move smacks of a cover-up. The victims deserve better.' Some other remarks worth mentioning, here. 'My little sister is one of her victims, and so am I,' Maria Farmer told MSNBC, slamming politicians who 'want to entertain Ghislaine Maxwell' and 'act like we victims should not be heard from'. Her sister Annie told The Daily Mail any deal between the government and Maxwell would 'be devastating' and 'feel like a slap in the face'. 'It doesn't sit well that this is all happening without any involvement from the people they asked to testify in her case, or other victims,' she said. 'It's hard not to be anxious.' Theresa Helm said any leniency shown towards Maxwell 'would mean the complete crumbling of this justice system'. 'We all deserve a pathway to justice. We don't deserve to have it, yet again, robbed from us,' she told MSNBC. 'It truly does seem like an upside down world.' During an interview about Maxwell's case in 2021, which feels relevant in this discussion, Sarah Ransome described Maxwell as 'the chief orchestrator' who had 'forced' her into the room where Epstein raped her. 'It actually makes me sick that she is claiming to be a victim, or have any form of innocence' said Ms Ransome. 'This is the same woman that grabbed my arm and forced me into a room to be raped by Jeffrey. It was brutal. 'And I remember limping from Jeffrey's bedroom. I remember looking at Ghislaine, and she had this evil smirk on her face. She knew I was there to be raped, and she enjoyed it.' Speaking to CNN this week Ms Giuffre's brother, Sky Roberts, said Maxwell 'deserves to rot in prison, where she belongs'. 'Because of what she's done to my sister, and so many other women. It's absolutely a pure sense of evil,' Mr Roberts said. 'She wasn't stolen. She was preyed upon,' he added, alluding to Mr Trump's complaint this week that Epstein 'stole' staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort, including Ms Giuffre. '(Maxwell) wasn't just a recruiter. She participated, and viciously participated, with these girls, abusing them.' He said his sister described Maxwell as a 'monster' from 'a nightmare'. Journalist Tara Palmeri, who has reported extensively on the Epstein case and knows multiple victims, described recent events as 'infuriating'. 'Because I know so much about her. I know the damage she did to these girls,' Ms Palmeri said on her YouTube channel. 'So many of them are more angry with her, for the abuse, than Epstein. She was the one that violated them. She was the one that called Annie Farmer's mother and said, 'Don't worry, I'll take care of her, you can let her go to the ranch.' That was where Ghislaine Maxwell was the first one to touch Annie, and then Epstein jumped in. 'She was involved in the actual molestation of these girls. She didn't just bring them to Jeffrey Epstein.' All these comments are worth remembering, going forward. Ghislaine Maxwell was not Epstein's sidekick, she was his partner, and is no less culpable. She wasn't pulled into the web of his sex trafficking scheme – if anything, she was chiefly responsible for weaving it. She should not be pitied. Or trusted.
7NEWS
a day ago
- 7NEWS
Ghislaine Maxwell transferred to lower-security prison as pressure mounts on Donald Trump
Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred from a Florida prison to a lower-security facility in Texas to continue serving her 20-year sentence for helping the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. The US Bureau of Prisons made the announcement on Friday. Maxwell's move from FCI Tallahassee, a low-security prison, to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, comes a week after she met with Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche, who said he wanted to speak with her about anyone else who may have been involved in Epstein's crimes. Maxwell's lawyer, David Markus, confirmed she was moved but said he had no other comment. Spokespersons for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The BOP classifies prison camps such as Bryan as minimum security institutions, the lowest of five security levels in the federal system. Such facilities have limited or no perimeter fencing. Low-security facilities such as FCI Tallahassee have double-fenced perimeters and higher staff-to-inmate ratios than camps, according to the bureau. Asked why Maxwell was transferred, BOP spokesman Donald Murphy said he could not comment on the specifics of any incarcerated individual's prison assignment, but that the BOP determines where inmates are sent based on factors including 'the level of security and supervision the inmate requires'. Blanche's meeting with Maxwell came as President Donald Trump faces pressure from both his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats to release more information from the Department of Justice's investigations of Maxwell and Epstein. The Department is seeking court approval to of law enforcement officers' testimony before the grand juries that indicted Maxwell and Epstein. Such transcripts are usually kept secret. Two federal judges in Manhattan are weighing the government's requests. Lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein, and their alleged victims are due to share their positions on the potential unsealing with the judges in filings on Tuesday. Epstein took his own life in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Neither Markus nor Blanche has provided detailed accounts of what they discussed. Markus has said Maxwell would welcome relief from Trump, who has said he had not thought about whether to pardon her. Maxwell was found guilty at a 2021 trial of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to abuse. She had pleaded not guilty and is asking the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Luxury prison': Epstein accomplice Maxwell quietly moved to low-security camp
The assignment to the Bryan camp was a big lifestyle upgrade for Maxwell, he said. The family of Virginia Giuffre – the American-Australian woman who was among Epstein's most well-known sex-trafficking accusers – said in a statement that Maxwell's transfer reflected 'the justice system failing victims right before our eyes'. Giuffre died by suicide on April 25 this year at her farm in Neergabby, north of Perth, aged 41. 'It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,' her family said in a statement – reported by The Washington Post – that was also signed by other women who said they were victims of Epstein and Maxwell. 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum-security luxury prison in Texas.' Loading The prison camp is about 150 kilometres north-west of Houston on about 15 hectares of land. It held about 650 women, AP reported in 2023. According to a 2016 FPC Bryan inmate handbook, those eligible to work could earn up to $US1.15 ($1.78) an hour in their job assignments, which include food service roles and factory employment operated by Federal Prison Industries. There, Maxwell will be surrounded by women serving shorter sentences and considered less likely to be violent or have gang affiliations. Camp inmates are assigned to dormitory-style housing and have considerable freedom to move around within the facility, according to Paperny, who said he had advised Shah. Giuffre, who had accused Britain's Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by Epstein, has been a central figure in conspiracy theories tied to the case. Andrew has always denied those claims; the two reached an out-of-court settlement in 2022, and he was stripped of royal duties. Loading Earlier this week, her family had expressed shock at hearing US President Donald Trump say that Epstein 'stole' Giuffre and other young women from the spa at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida – and urged that Maxwell remain in prison. 'It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been 'stolen' from Mar-a-Lago,' the family's earlier statement said. 'We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.' Prosecutors have said Epstein's sex crimes could not have been done without Maxwell, but her lawyers have maintained that she was wrongly prosecuted and denied a fair trial, and have floated the idea of a presidential pardon. They have also asked the US Supreme Court to take up her case. Trump said on Friday night Washington time (Saturday AEST) that no one had asked him about clemency for Maxwell. 'I'm allowed to do it but nobody's asked me to do it,' he told Newsmax in an interview. 'I know nothing about it. I don't know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons, I've given pardons to people before, but nobody's even asked me to do it.' Maxwell's case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department's statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex-trafficking investigation. Loading The decision infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump's base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up. Since then, administration officials have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts. Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse over two days last week by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The House Oversight Committee had also said that it wanted to speak with her. Maxwell's lawyers have said they would be open to an interview, but only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution. In a letter on Friday to Maxwell's lawyers, Representative James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell's appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September. Loading Comer wrote that while Maxwell's testimony was 'vital' to the Republican-led investigation into Epstein, the committee would not provide immunity or any questions in advance. AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
