‘Cover up': Giuffre's family slam Maxwell prison move
The family of Virginia Giuffre, and other accusers, have expressed 'outrage' over the decision to move notorious sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to a cushy minimum-security prison camp.
The 63-year-old convicted child sex trafficker was transferred from a jail in Florida to the minimum-security prison camp known as a 'Club Fed' in Bryan, Texas, north east of Austin, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed to The New York Post on Friday.
No reason was given for the move, but it comes days after she met Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche, who was Donald Trump's personal lawyer, twice while trying to seek immunity and a deal to spill her secrets about late pedophile ex Jeffrey Epstein.
'We can confirm, Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,' BOP spokesman Donald Murphy said.
The notorious madam — who is serving 20 years for helping Epstein groom and abuse underage girls — is now in a prison for nonviolent inmates who are allowed to roam the grounds with 'limited or no perimeter fencing,' according to the BOP's website.
She will be neighbours with well-known white-collar criminals, including Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced fraudster convicted of ripping off investors in her now-defunct blood-testing company Theranos, as well as Real Housewives of Salt Lake star and convicted scammer Jen Shah.
'It's one of the best prisons for anyone to go to,' Josh Lepird, regional vice president for the prison officers' union that includes Maxwell's new camp, told the Houston Chronicle on Friday.
'When you hear people say 'Club Fed,' they're talking about places like FPC Bryan.'
A picture of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in prison.
Maxwell is supposed to be locked up until 2037. Yet inmates 'typically only go to a camp if you have just a couple years left,' Mr Lepird told the outlet.
'But if someone is a co-operating witness, they can request a lower security level.'
Her unexpected move from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee, in Florida, was handled directly by BOP officials, rather than US Marshals, according to the New York Sun, which said it included a 'brief stopover' in FCI Oakdale in Louisiana.
No reason was given for the unexpected move. Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, also declined to elaborate, saying, 'We can confirm that she was moved but we have no comment'.
'Smacks of a cover up'
The move was condemned by the family of Epstein and Maxwell accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, as well as accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.
'It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received. Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency,' the statement said.
The late Virginia Giuffre. Picture: AP/Bebeto Matthews
'Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas.'
They added the US justice system is 'failing victims right before our eyes'.
'The Trump administration should not credit a word Maxwell says, as the government itself sought charges against Maxwell for being a serial liar. This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better.'
Maxwell's meeting with Blanche
The sudden transfer comes a week after Mr Blanche huddled with the disgraced British socialite and her lawyer at the US Attorney's Office in Tallahassee.
It's unclear what Maxwell and Mr Blanche discussed at the meeting — or whether anything the convicted predator says would be considered credible — but her lawyer stressed afterwards that she 'honestly' answered Mr Blanche's questions.
The DOJ in 2022 expressed doubts that Maxwell could be truthful, accusing her in court papers of a 'significant pattern of dishonest conduct' and failing to take responsibility for her heinous crimes.
The Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas. Picture: Mark Felix / AFP
A Manhattan jury convicted Maxwell in 2021 on sex trafficking charges for serving as Epstein's right-hand woman — a 'sophisticated predator' that lured girls into the dead financier's orbit from at least 1994 to 2004, prosecutors noted.
Four women testified at the convicted sex fiend's trial about Maxwell courting them and trafficking them to Epstein to be sexually abused.
Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: Handout / US District Court for the Southern District of New York / AFP
However, Maxwell's lawyers claimed she was made a scapegoat for Epstein's twisted schemes after Epstein died in a Manhattan federal jail in 2019 while awaiting his own trial.
The Trump White House has faced renewed pressure in recent weeks to release more information about the government's probe into Epstein.
US Attorney-General Pam Bondi vowed earlier this year to release a cache of Epstein files, which could include juicy information on what the feds seized from the financier's mansions. But she later backtracked, saying that no further disclosures would be warranted.
Justice Department officials are currently lobbying two New York federal judges to release grand jury testimony from investigations into both Maxwell and Epstein. But such information would only include the accounts of two law enforcement witnesses, the feds disclosed this week.
Such a disclosure, if the judges sign off, would only amount to a fraction of the 300 gigabytes of Epstein-related material that DOJ and FBI officials have said they have in their possession.
Maxwell has also offered to testify to a congressional committee about Epstein, but only if granted immunity for what she says.
President Trump has the power to pardon Maxwell or to release her from prison by commuting her sentence.
When asked earlier this week about the possibility, he didn't rule out doing so, but insisted that he had not been approached directly with a request to pardon her.
This story was published in Teh New York Post and is reproduced with permission.
Originally published as 'Cover up': Giuffre's family slam Maxwell prison move
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News.com.au
2 hours 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
4 hours 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.

Daily Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
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