Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accomplice, does not believe that her late partner took his own life.
On Friday, the Department of Justice released the long-awaited taped interviews Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Maxwell in July. During the interviews, Maxwell contributed to the speculation surrounding Epstein’s suspicious death, which were stoked by a bombshell CBS News investigation that uncovered the existence of a mystery third person in the grainy security footage from the night of Epstein’s death.
“Do you—so you think he was—he did not die by suicide, given all the things we just talked about?” Blanche asked Maxwell.
“I do not believe he died by suicide, no,” Maxwell replied.
When pressed for her own speculations on who would kill Epstein and why, Maxwell balked. She stated that she doesn’t believe there was any blackmail involved or that there was a hit on Epstein from someone on the outside, though she did concede that “it’s possible.”
“If it is indeed murder, I believe it was an internal situation,” she said.
Maxwell claimed that, based on her own experience in prison, “somebody can pay a prisoner to kill you for $25 worth of commissary,” referring to the prison store where inmates can purchase goods. Maxwell claimed that, if Epstein was murdered, it was more likely due to prison mismanagement than to a conspiracy to silence him.
She said the narrative that powerful outside actors killed Epstein was “just part of the story that’s been created that started back in 2008, ’09,” which she believes is “ludicrous.”
Maxwell said that if a former client wanted Epstein dead, they could have killed him long before 2019, when he was awaiting trial.
“I also happen to think if that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail. And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target,” Maxwell told Blanche.
The tapes arrived in the midst of a MAGA civil war, with the Trump administration battling its own base for failing to release the Epstein files.
Blanche traveled to Tallahassee, Florida, where Maxwell was previously serving her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, for the interview. She has since been transferred to a much cushier, minimum-security prison in Bryan, Texas, leading some to speculate that she may be receiving special treatment from the Trump administration.
If you or a loved one is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.
