Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein accomplice and convicted sex trafficker, has been banned from training service puppies at the prison camp in Texas where she was transferred last week, according to a report.
Maxwell, 63, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2022 for helping Epstein, her former boyfriend, groom underage girls for sex but has recently returned to the spotlight amid the furore over Donald Trump’s administration’s failure to release all federal files on the late pedophile, despite intense pressure from the president’s supporters to do so.
The disgraced British socialite was previously being held in Tallahassee, Florida, but, shortly after sitting for two days of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, was quietly transferred to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in southeastern Texas on Friday.
While her minimum-security new home is known for its comparatively peaceful atmosphere and has been dubbed “Club Fed,” Maxwell will not be allowed to join the institution’s other inmates in helping to train puppies during her stay.
Paige Mazzoni, the chief executive officer of Canine Companions, the organization that runs programs at Bryan, told NBC News that Maxwell would not be invited to participate.
“We do not allow anyone whose crime involves abuse towards minors or animals – including any crime of a sexual nature,” Mazzoni said. “That’s a hard policy we have, so she will not be able to.”
She added that the restriction was in place to protect the young dogs involved, explaining: “Those are crimes against the vulnerable, and you’re putting them with a puppy who is vulnerable.”
ABC News reported on Wednesday that Maxwell told Blanche during their meetings last month that she never saw President Trump do anything that would provide cause for concern during the years in which he knew Epstein socially in New York and Florida.
Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing over his past association with Epstein and is currently suing The Wall Street Journal for reporting that he once sent the sex offender a “bawdy” doodle for his birthday.
However, he has been under intense pressure for the last month after his Justice Department and FBI ruled that the deceased sex trafficker left behind no “client list” and died by suicide in his New York jail cell in August 2019, a verdict that did not satisfy Trump’s supporters, who continue to demand answers and suspect a “coverup” to protect influential people.
Trump has denied knowing about Maxwell’s prison transfer in advance but has not definitively ruled out pardoning her in exchange for her cooperation.
His administration is reportedly considering whether to release the transcript of Blanche’s meetings with Maxwell, with the recording of their conversations currently in the process of being digitized.
Another avenue the administration has taken in its efforts to quell the uproar over Epstein is to seek the release of grand jury testimony from Maxwell’s criminal case, with Trump asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to do so but Maxwell’s legal team opposing the move, warning it could adversely influence her chances of appealing her conviction before the Supreme Court.
She had been due to give testimony before the House Oversight Committee about her activities with Epstein on August 11. Still, the panel’s chair, Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, moved on Friday to postpone her appearance until after the country’s top court has decided whether to act on her appeal.
That will not happen until the justices return from their summer recess on September 29.
Comer has, however, subpoenaed former president Bill Clinton, ex-first lady Hillary Clinton, and some former attorneys general and FBI directors to appear before his committee this month to give evidence on the disgraced billionaire and the more than 20 years of investigations into his crimes.
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