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after days Ghislaine Maxwell Asking a judge to immediately release him from a 20-year prison sentence, the public release of grand jury tapes from his sex trafficking case put the spotlight back on the victims whose allegations helped put him behind bars.
The disclosure of the transcripts as part of the Justice Department’s release of its investigative files on Maxwell and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein exposed how a FBI The agent told grand jurors about Maxwell’s key role in Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse of girls and young women.
Maxwell, A British The socialite and publishing heir was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 after four women told a federal jury new york Citi about how he and Epstein abused her in the 1990s and early 2000s. Epstein never went to trial. He was arrested on sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and committed suicide in his cell at a Manhattan federal prison a month later.
two weeks ago, as Justice Department In preparation for the release of what is commonly known as the Epstein files, Maxwell filed a habeas petition, asking a federal judge to free him on the grounds that “substantial new evidence” had emerged that proved constitutional violations vitiated his trial.
Maxwell claimed that exculpatory information had been concealed and that witnesses had lied in their testimony. He filed the petition himself, without the help of any lawyer.
This week, the judge, Paul A. Engelmayer scolded Maxwell for failing to remove the victims’ names and other identifying information from his court papers. He said future filings should be kept sealed and away from public view until they are reviewed and amended to protect the identities of the victims.
Victims fear Maxwell will be pardoned
Epstein’s accuser Danielle Bensky said the release of the records has focused attention on Maxwell’s crimes among his victims. Bensky said she has been involved in daily discussions with about two dozen other victims, making it clear that Maxwell is “a criminal who was 1,000% engaged in sexual acts.”
Bensky said, “I’ve heard things that would make your blood boil. I had a conversation last night with a survivor who said he was a puppet.”
Bensky said Epstein sexually abused her two decades ago. He said that Maxwell never misbehaved with him personally.
Delayed and heavily edited files
The transcript of the grand jury proceedings that resulted in Maxwell’s indictment was released this week in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law enacted last month after months of public and political pressure.
The Justice Department has been posting the records intermittently after admitting it would miss last Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline to release all the records. It attributed the delay to the time-consuming process of obscuring victims’ names and other identifying information.
On Wednesday, the department said it may need “a few more weeks” to release the entire consignment after the sudden discovery of more than a million potentially relevant documents. It was a surprising development because department officials had suggested months earlier that they had already accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.
Some of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury records were initially released with heavy redactions – a 119-page document marked “Grand Jury-NY” – was completely blacked out. Updated versions were posted over the weekend.
FBI agent testified that Maxwell molested a young girl
Grand jury testimony from an FBI agent describing interviews he conducted with Epstein victims foreshadowed the trial testimony of four women a year later who described Maxwell’s role in his sexual abuse from 1994 to 2004.
The agent described one woman who described meeting Maxwell and Epstein as a 14-year-old girl attending a Michigan summer art camp in 1994. Flight logs revealed that Epstein and Maxwell went to a school that sponsored the camp because Epstein was a donor.
According to the agent, whose name was redacted from the transcript, the girl had a chance encounter with Epstein and Maxwell one day. After learning that the girl was from Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein mentioned that he sometimes gave scholarships to students and they asked for his phone number, the agent said.
Upon returning home, the girl went to Epstein’s estate with her mother for tea and was impressed when Epstein said he offered scholarships, so much so that the mother said Epstein was like a “godfather,” the agent said.
The agent said the girl began visiting the estate regularly as Epstein and Maxwell “groomed” her with gifts and trips to the movies, and Epstein began paying for voice lessons and giving her money, which he said he should give to his struggling mother.
The agent said the girl thought her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell was strange, “but Maxwell made it normal for her. She was like a cool, big sister and made comments like, ‘This is what grown-ups do.'”
Eventually, the agent testified, the girl saw Maxwell topless in the pool. When she revealed she hoped to become an actor and a model, Epstein told her he was the Victoria’s Secret owner’s best friend and she needed to learn to be comfortable in her underwear and not be vulgar, the agent said.
Then, the agent said, the girl asked Epstein what he meant and the financier pulled her onto his lap and masturbated. After that, the agent said, the girl’s encounters with Epstein began to include sexual contact, particularly in his massage room.
Maxwell was sometimes there with other girls, the agent said. One of the girls would begin massaging Epstein and Maxwell would tease the girls, the agent said.
“She would grab the girl’s breasts and she would instruct the girls on what to do,” the agent said, describing the girl. Maxwell’s attitude during the encounters, the agent said, was “very casual; he acted like it was normal.”
The released testimony mirrors testimony at Maxwell’s 2021 trial from a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
During the trial, Jane said Maxwell also participated in group sessions between several women and Epstein, which usually began with Epstein or Maxwell taking them all to a bedroom or massage room at a Palm Beach residence.