Once a British socialite who lived a life of luxury, Ghislaine Maxwell today is confined in a U.S. prison after being convicted of helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
Now, three years after she was sentenced, a top U.S. Department of Justice official plans to personally interview Maxwell to find out if she has information about anyone who has committed crimes against Epstein's victims.
It isn't clear what Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche might learn from the meeting. Maxwell has long claimed she is innocent and had no knowledge that Epstein, or anyone else, was sexually abusing teenagers.
Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires.
President Donald Trump has suggested in the past there was a cover-up. Now his administration is dealing with the fallout after the Justice Department initially announced two weeks ago that it would not release any more evidence about the Epstein investigation. The department has since changed course, at Trump's urging.
Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?
She grew up as the daughter of the late British billionaire Robert Maxwell, a former member of Parliament whose publishing empire included the Daily Mirror, one of Britain’s biggest tabloid newspapers, and the book publisher Macmillan.
As a college student, she became close friends with Britain's Prince Andrew, who would later invite her to royal residences, including Windsor Castle.
But the Maxwell family was shattered by scandal. After Robert Maxwell fell from his yacht and died in 1991, investigators accused him of embezzling huge sums of money from his companies' pension funds.
Soon after her father's death, Ghislaine Maxwell was photographed at a memorial sitting next to Epstein, an American money manager.
Maxwell dated Epstein but later also became his employee, taking on a variety of tasks, including hiring staff for his six homes.
How did Ghislaine Maxwell help Epstein?
Part of Maxwell's household duties included hiring a steady stream of young people to give massages to Epstein.
“As far as I’m concerned, everyone who came to his house was an adult professional person,” she said in a deposition nearly a decade ago.
But police and prosecutors said many of those “masseuses” were underage girls who were paid for sexual acts.
Epstein was arrested in 2006 in Palm Beach, Florida, after multiple girls, including students from a local high school, spoke to police. But he ultimately pleaded guilty in 2008 to a single charge of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and served 13 months in jail.
Maxwell wasn't charged until 2021. At her trial, four women testified that Maxwell groomed them as teenagers to participate in sexual acts with Epstein and sometimes participated in the abuse.
Maxwell's lawyers argued that the women’s recollections had been manipulated by lawyers pursuing civil lawsuits, pointing to inconsistencies in their testimony.
A jury convicted Maxwell of sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity.
Why do investigators want to talk to Maxwell now?
The Justice Department's request to talk with Maxwell comes at a time when it is dealing with backlash from some of President Donald Trump’s supporters, some of whom believe there has been a government cover-up to protect Epstein's rich and powerful friends from being implicated in his crimes.
The department asked a judge last week to unseal transcripts of the grand jury sessions that led to indictments against Epstein and Maxwell.
The Justice Department said in a memo that it had not uncovered evidence to charge anyone else in connection with Epstein’s abuse. But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on social media that “if Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.”
He said he anticipated meeting with Maxwell in the coming days.
Will she talk?
It remains to be seen. One of her lawyers, David Oscar Markus, said Tuesday that they were in discussions with the government.
“Ghislaine will always testify truthfully,” he said in the statement.
Maxwell did not testify at her trial but gave two lengthy depositions years ago. She repeatedly said that one of Epstein's accusers, who claimed he had trafficked her to powerful men, including Prince Andrew, was a liar who fabricated her story.
Where is Ghislaine Maxwell now?
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence and is currently at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida.
Her attorneys have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after a lower court upheld her convictions last fall.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein
John Seewer, The Associated Press
