When Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security prison camp last week, despite being convicted of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein, her move fueled ever-growing speculation about authorities’ handling of the late financier’s crimes.
For many, the timing of Maxwell’s sudden relocation from a Florida penitentiary to a Texas lockup known for its more campus feel and celebrity inmates was especially suspect – with two Epstein victims reportedly describing the event as a “cover-up”.
Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 of luring girls into Epstein’s abusive world, met with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, one week before the move. This sit-down with Blanche – who defended Donald Trump in criminal proceedings before working in his justice department – came amid extensive criticism of the president’s botched release of Epstein investigative files.
The Epstein scandal is once again roiling American politics with many especially focused on the exact nature of Trump’s own social links to Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019.
Trump had vowed on the campaign trail to release the Epstein files, a siren song to the many Maga devotees convinced that a network of elites protected Epstein and potentially participated in his sex trafficking of teen girls. But Trump’s justice department then later released a memorandum stating that there was no Epstein client list and elected not to release extensive case files.
Following the backtracking, several reports highlighting Trump’s past ties to Epstein stoked still more suspicion. The Wall Street Journal published an article alleging that Trump contributed a “bawdy” letter to a birthday book for Epstein. Not long after this story was published, Trump said that he had instructed the justice department to request unsealing of grand jury transcripts in Epstein and Maxwell’s criminal proceedings.
The newspaper on 23 July reported that his attorney general, Pam Bondi, told him that there were multiple instances of his name in the Epstein files, potentially negating whatever benefit he hoped would come from his grand jury directive. The House oversight committee on Tuesday subpoenaed Trump’s justice department for Epstein investigation files, per the Associated Press – further amplifying comment surrounding Maxwell’s improved prison conditions.
Several longtime defense attorneys said that Maxwell’s reassignment to FPC Bryan suggested she provided useful information to the justice department officials she talked with. It’s also possible that this transfer foreshadows still better conditions for Maxwell – including possible release, they speculated.
“My thinking is: if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” said Randy Zelin, a longtime defense attorney who has taught law at Cornell Law School. “If someone who is in a really not nice prison gets moved to a nicer prison, there is typically a reason behind that, and it’s not merely because you are the next contestant on The Price Is Right or today’s your lucky day.
“It would appear to me that when Ms Maxwell was questioned under what we call a ‘proffer agreement’ by the government, the answers that she gave were found to be credible, they were found to be truthful and they were found to be helpful,” Zelin said. “In exchange for her being helpful and being truthful and being candid and being cooperative, she had a [benefit] conferred upon her, which is: she’s in much nicer digs than she was before she provided her help to the government.”
While the Bureau of Prisons has discretion over inmate placement, Zelin surmises there was probably an agreement between the correctional agency and the justice department to move Maxwell.
“It’s not a coincidence, and it’s either because she’s helping the Department of Justice go after other people, or she has more or less exonerated the president, and she has told the Department of Justice that she knows of absolutely nothing inappropriate, untoward or gross that took place between the president and Jeffrey Epstein,” Zelin said.
Asked if one should look at Maxwell’s move as a one-off, Zelin said no. “This is the beginning, not the end.”
For Sam Bassett, a criminal defense attorney with Austin, Texas-based law firm Minton, Bassett, Flores & Carsey, publicity surrounding Maxwell’s meeting is particularly interesting.
“One of the things that intrigued me about the whole situation with her interview is how public it was and how public her lawyer was about it. I know that when my clients cooperate, either post conviction or even before they’re convicted, it’s something that I like to keep under wraps,” Bassett said.
He noted that one reason for privacy surrounding meetings and cooperation is because other inmates tend to look down upon those who cooperate. “So it really flagged to me that this was kind of a political move on a lawyer’s part. It puts some pressure on the president or his staff to consider a pardon or commutation at some point.”
As for Maxwell’s transfer, Bassett said it could stem from security reasons – such as threats at her previous prison in Florida – or her lawyers requested a move. But it was “unusual” that a person found culpable of such a serious crime as sex trafficking would end up in a prison camp.
“Maybe it’s to be a recognition for cooperation, giving her more freedom, so to speak, in a facility,” he said, noting that a move to a lower-security facility might be considered a favor to some. “The question is: is this a foreshadowing of bigger favors to come?
Neama Rahmani, founder of West Coast Trial lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, said there were multiple possibilities behind the move.
“It could be something huge or just a mere coincidence,” Rahmani said. “The Bureau of Prisons has complete control over inmate placement, and especially when you deal with female inmates, there’s not as many facilities, so the options are more limited.”
Rahmani said that sex trafficking was considered a more serious crime, a crime of violence, “so her being moved to a minimum security camp would be atypical, but it’s not unheard of”.
That said, the chronology continues to raise many questions. Maxwell met with Blanche, she is vying for relief from the US supreme court, and potentially will testify before Congress.
“The timing of it all leads me to believe that maybe something big is really happening, and by something big, that has to be a cooperation, right? That’s really all she has to offer.” For Maxwell, relief could take the form of prosecutors requesting a resentencing, prison officials moving her to home confinement, or a pardon.
A veteran legal public relations expert, who spoke under the condition of anonymity as they have clients in federal custody, surmised Maxwell “must have provided prosecutors with information that was valuable enough post conviction for her to warrant these more favorable sentencing conditions – and they’re considerably more favorable”.
“The interesting thing to outsiders is it appears that she’s a cooperating witness, though, at this point, she’s cooperating against a corpse, and a corpse cannot be convicted,” they said.
The public relations veteran described the Maxwell-Blanche meeting as “part one” of a process potentially resulting in better sentencing conditions.
“Part two is the public finding out, through DoJ disclosure, what information she actually provided,” they said. “I do think that there’s going to be some mechanism for them to release what she shared – and I think what she shared was indeed favorable enough to secure these lessened conditions.”
Asked for comment about Maxwell’s transfer, a senior administration official said: “Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd. Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to death threats, and significant safety and danger concerns.”
Trump’s justice department pointed to Blanche’s tweet about his meeting with Maxwell, in which he said they “will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time”.
Neither the Bureau of Prisons nor Maxwell’s lawyer immediately responded to requests for comment.
