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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Josh Marcus

Ghislaine Maxwell’s family says renewed Epstein interest has made her a target in prison

The family of Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and associate of sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein, is worried the Epstein-related scandal washing over the Trump administration is putting her at risk as she serves out a 20-year prison sentence.

“For sure she remains at great, if not greater, risk and has expressed her real concerns about this to me,” her brother Ian Maxwell told The Times of London.

Maxwell added that his sister, who was sentenced in 2022 for what prosecutors said was a decade-long role recruiting and abusing girls alongside Epstein, disagrees with U.S. officials who reiterated last week that evidence suggests Epstein’s 2019 death in jail as he awaited trial was a suicide.

It’s not the only part of the Epstein story she disputes. Maxwell has also sought an appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction, arguing a 2008 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and federal prosecutors in Florida should cover her as well.

“The principal casualties here are truth and justice and my sister’s freedom,” Ian Maxwell added to The Times, saying he supports “total disclosure” about the evidence the government possesses from its Epstein cases.

“That’s the reality and it should make all right-thinking people seethe with anger,” he continued. “We remain ever hopeful that the truth of the ‘hoax’, as President Trump now refers to it, comes out.”

The Trump administration has urged the Supreme Court to reject the petition, while the Maxwell family said last week it will seek renewed efforts challenging the case in New York if the high court sides with the White House.

Regardless of what the courts decide, the wider Epstein scandal, reignited last month when Elon Musk accused Trump of being in the so-called “Epstein files,” without providing evidence, looks set to consume the Trump administration’s attentions.

Epstein’s former attorney Alan Dershowitz said Sunday in an interview with Fox News that Ghislaine Maxwell “knows everything” about the scandal and might be open to testifying before Congress in exchange for immunity.

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 on conspiracy charges for her role in the Epstein ring, though she argues she didn’t get a fair trial and is seeking an appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court (US District Court for the Southern District of New York)

“She knows everything. She is the Rosetta Stone. She knows everything. She arranged every single trip with everybody. She knows everything,” Dershowitz said on Fox News Sunday.

“If she were just given use immunity, she could be compelled to testify,” he added. “I’m told that she actually would be willing to testify, and there’d be no reason for her to withhold any information.”

The Trump administration has dismissed attempts to paint the president as part of Epstein’s exploits as a Democrat-created “hoax,” but has faced considerable pressure from its base to release further investigative materials about the investigations into Epstein and his high-profile associates.

Last week, the administration asked a New York federal court to unseal grand jury testimony related to the Epstein trial.

The president, meanwhile, has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a report that Trump allegedly wrote Epstein a sexually explicit 50th birthday card in 2003, which the president denies.

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