NEW YORK (AP) — Days after Ghislaine Maxwell asked a judge to immediately release her from a 20-year prison sentence, the public release of grand jury transcripts in her sex-trafficking case has put the spotlight back on the victims whose accusations helped land her behind bars.
The release of the transcripts as part of the Justice Department’s ongoing release of its investigative files on Maxwell and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein revealed how an FBI agent told grand jurors about Maxwell’s critical role in Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse of girls and young women.
Maxwell, a British socialite and publishing heiress, was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 after four women told a New York federal jury about how she and Epstein abused them in the 1990s and early 2000s. Epstein never went to trial. He was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges and committed suicide a month later in his cell at a federal prison in Manhattan.
Two weeks ago, as the Justice Department prepared to begin releasing what are commonly known as the Epstein files, Maxwell filed a habeas petition, asking a federal judge to release it on the grounds that “substantial new evidence” had emerged that proved constitutional violations had tainted his trial.
Maxwell claimed exculpatory information was withheld and witnesses lied in their testimony. She filed the application alone, without the help of a lawyer.
This week, the judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, chided Maxwell for failing to redact the victims’ names and other identifying information from his court papers. He said future files must be kept sealed and open to the public until they are reviewed and redacted to protect the victims’ identities.
Victims fear Maxwell will be pardoned
Epstein’s accuser, Danielle Bensky, said the release of the tapes only heightened attention to Maxwell’s crimes among their victims. Bensky said she was involved in daily conversations with two dozen other victims that made it clear Maxwell “is a criminal who was 1,000 percent involved in sexual acts.”
“I’ve heard things that would make your blood run. I just had a conversation with a survivor last night who said she was the puppeteer,” Bensky said.
Bensky said she was sexually abused by Epstein two decades ago. She said she was never personally abused by Maxwell.
Late and heavily redacted files
Transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to Maxwell’s indictment were released this week under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law passed last month after months of public and political pressure.
The Justice Department periodically posted records after acknowledging it would miss last Friday’s Congressional deadline to release all the records. He blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of withholding victims’ names and other identifying information.
On Wednesday, the department said it could take “several more weeks” to release the entire trove after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents. It was a stunning development after department officials suggested months ago that they were already considering the vast universe of material related to Epstein.
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.
The FBI agent testifies about a young woman being manipulated by Maxwell
Testimony by an FBI agent describing interviews with Epstein’s victims foreshadowed trial testimony a year later by four women who described Maxwell’s role in sexually abusing them from 1994 to 2004.
The agent told of a woman who described meeting Maxwell and Epstein as a 14-year-old attending a summer art camp in Michigan in 1994. Flight logs showed Epstein and Maxwell went to the school sponsoring 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 the girl was from Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein mentioned he sometimes gave scholarships to students and they asked for his phone number, the agent said.
Once home, the girl visited Epstein’s estate with her mother for tea, and the mother was impressed when Epstein said he offered scholarships, enough that the mother said Epstein was like a “godfather,” the agent said.
The agent said the girl began going to 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 he said he should give to her struggling mother.
The agent said the girl thought her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell was weird, “but Maxwell normalized it for her. He was like a cool big sister and made comments like, ‘That’s what adults do.’
Eventually, the agent testified, the girl saw Maxwell topless at the pool. After she revealed she hoped to be an actor and model, Epstein told her she was best friends with the owner of Victoria’s Secret and that she would have to learn to be comfortable in her underwear and not be a brat, 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 added, 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 was grabbing the girl’s breasts and directing the girls what to do,” the officer said, relaying the girl’s account. Maxwell’s demeanor during the meetings was “very casual; she acted like it was normal,” the agent said.
The released testimony appeared to mirror testimony at Maxwell’s 2021 trial by a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
At trial, Jane said Maxwell also participated in group sessions between several women and Epstein, which usually began with Epstein or Maxwell leading them all to a bedroom or massage room at the Palm Beach residence.