Bending The Rules For Epstein's Accomplice
Ghislaine Maxwell is not qualified to serve time in a federal prison camp, but was transferred to one after she said Pres. Donald Trump was not involved in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring.
The rules are unambiguous.
Ghislaine Maxwell is not qualified for transfer from a maximum security prison to a federal prison camp.
Yet, she was transferred to a federal prison camp in Texas shortly after her interview in July with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The transcripts of the interview were released last week.
Maxwell is a convicted sex trafficker who was paid $250,000 a year by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to handle his personal dealings.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, only inmates with a minimal criminal history and no history of violence can be housed in prison camps. Maxwell was found guilty by a jury of multiple sex trafficking crimes involving minors, including sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, among others.
There is debate about whether sex trafficking inherently qualifies as a crime of violence.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia has ruled that “[s]elling … women for sex… qualified as an assault because it placed them in imminent apprehension of a harmful or offensive bodily contact.” See Nautilus Ins. Co. v. Motel Mgmt. Servs., Inc., 2022 WL 15722613 (3rd Cir. Oct. 28, 2022).
The argument for equating sex trafficking with violence is especially strong with respect to minors, who cannot legally consent to sex.
Nevertheless, other BOP rules explicitly disqualify Maxwell from transfer to a prison camp.
The BOP rules state: “Sex offenders and others the Bureau considers high-risk are prohibited from placement in prison camps.”
Maxwell is a convicted sex offender.
Additionally, according to BOP rules, “Inmates must have less than ten years remaining on their sentence.”
Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 and has approximately 16 years remaining on her sentence.
Maxwell also was charged with two counts of perjury for lying under oath during a 2016 deposition. Prosecutors reportedly dropped the charges after Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction in 2022 because the victims wanted closure and to avoid the trauma of testifying again.
One of the perjury charges involved Maxwell stating, “I don't know what you're talking about,” when asked if she knew about Epstein’s “scheme to recruit underage girls.”
Quid Pro Quo?
Why don’t the BOP rules apply to Maxwell like everyone else?
It is fair to question whether Maxwell’s preferential treatment represents a quid pro quo for her exculpation of Trump from the morass of illegality surrounding her former employer. Trump and Epstein were friends for years until, according to Trump, he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was stealing employees, like Virginia Guiffre.
Since Maxwell’s move to a prison camp, Epstein’s victims have expressed concern that a pardon is in the offing.
Trump has refused to rule out the possibility of pardoning Maxwell, stating that he is allowed to do so. This prompted GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson to express concern, though Johnson ultimately deferred to Trump.
More Lies
In her interview with Blanche, Maxwell portrayed herself as completely innocent despite her conviction by a jury after a lengthy trial.
Maxwell denied a claim by Epstein’s chief accuser, Virginia Guiffre, that Guiffre was recruited from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, or that Giuffre was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew.
Trump himself said Guiffre, then 16, was “stolen” by Epstein when she worked as an assistant at Mar-a-Lago. Guiffre was 16 when she said she was recruited by Epstein and Maxwell. Guiffre testified under oath that Epstein sexually abused her and then passed her around to powerful men for sex like a “platter of fruit.”
Giuffre committed suicide in April in Australia at the age of 41.
Epstein paid $500,000 to settle a civil lawsuit filed by Guiffre in 2009 that accused him of trafficking her and “lending her out” to powerful men, including Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom. She settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew for an estimated $16 million in 2022.
Maxwell also denied knowing that video cameras were placed throughout Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, possibly for the purpose of blackmailing officials. The New York Post reported going inside the mansion and finding “multiple surveillance cameras were dotted around the property — including in multiple bedrooms.”
Not The First Time
It’s not the first time that an Epstein related case has received grossly preferential treatment.
In 2008, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alex Acosta, allowed Epstein to enter a secret agreement plea agreement. Epstein pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting a minor for prostitution, even though he was alleged to have sexually abused dozens of minors at his Palm Beach estate. Acosta’s deal covered up the full scope of Epstein’s criminality, and resulted in an absurd 13-month jail sentence to be served mostly on weekends.
An investigation in Florida found that Epstein had abused girls as young as 13.
According to a 2019 report by the Miami Herald, Acosta told colleagues he was ordered to "go easy" on Jeffrey Epstein because the financier "belonged to intelligence."
Acosta’s plea deal was kept under seal, but details emerged through lawsuits and a series of articles published by the Miami Herald called “Perversion of Justice.” In 2019, a federal judge ruled Acosta’s office violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by failing to properly notify Epstein’s victims about the plea deal.
Public outrage fueled new charges against Epstein on July 8, 2019, for sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in New York and Florida.
Suicide?
Epstein’s criminal conviction looked like a virtual certainty in 2019 until a series of unfortunate (and, some say, improbable) events occurred simultaneously at the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York. Epstein was discovered dead in his cell with a bedsheet around his neck.
Interestingly, Maxwell told Blanche that she didn’t think Epstein committed suicide.
Some of the irregularities related to Epstein’s “suicide'“ include:
Security cameras on the cell block either malfunctioned or captured footage with irregularities. Epstein’s cell door was not within any camera’s field of view.
Epstein was taken off suicide watch about two weeks before his death, after a reported earlier attempt. (Epstein initially said he thought his cellmate tried to kill him, but later said he did not know what occurred and did not want to talk about it.)
Epstein was left alone in his cell after his assigned cellmate was transferred, a violation of prison protocol for a suicide-risk inmate.
He had excess prison blankets, linens, and clothing in his cell, some of which were ripped to create nooses.
Guards failed to perform the required 30-minute check-ins on Epstein during the night, instead falling asleep. Several staff members falsified BOP records relating to inmate counts and rounds. Charges were dismissed against two staffers after they fulfilled deferred prosecution agreements.
Although the medical examiner said Epstein was found dead by suicide,” forensic pathologist Michael Baden, hired by Epstein's brother to observe the autopsy, said the evidence was more consistent with homicide than suicide.
Club Fed
Federal prison farms are known under the slang term, Club Fed. Mostly white collar first-time offenders live in dormitory-style settings and have opportunities for vocational and education programs that are not available to inmates at high security prisons. Inmates can move around and socialize.
Why is Maxwell there? Everything related to thr Epstein case seems at odds with standard practice and legal procedure.