Ghislaine Maxwell’s family is turning to the tried-and-true method of flattering President Donald Trump in a bid to get the convicted sex trafficker sprung from prison.
Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year jail sentence after being convicted in 2021 of luring and grooming young girls for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.
Earlier this year, her lawyers filed a petition with the Supreme Court arguing her conviction was invalid, saying her prosecution in New York was barred by a 2007 non-prosecution agreement the government made with Epstein in Florida that also covered his co-conspirators.
A federal appeals court and the Department of Justice have both smacked down that argument, leading the family to now co-sign a flattering statement about the president.
Her siblings shared a statement from Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus that said, “I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal. He’s the ultimate dealmaker—and I’m sure he’d agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it.”
“These are sentiments with which we profoundly concur,” the family added.
The family members didn’t sign the statement individually—perhaps because the family has long been associated with scandal.
Two of Maxwell’s brothers were arrested in the early 1990s for fraud in connection with a scheme by their late father, the politician and newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, to steal £400 million in pension funds from his businesses, though they were later acquitted.
According to the Department of Justice, Ghislaine Maxwell wasn’t a party to the original agreement, which nevertheless left Epstein and his co-conspirators open to federal prosecution outside of Florida.
“It would be extremely strange if the NPA left Epstein himself open to federal prosecution in another district — as eventually occurred,” Solicitor General John Sauer and two other prosecutors write in the brief, “while protecting his coconspirators from prosecution anywhere.”
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center while awaiting trial.
The case has come back to haunt Trump’s second term in office after Epstein became a cause célèbre with his MAGA base, who are convinced Epstein was actually murdered and that the government is covering up a list of his powerful clients.
During his re-election campaign, Trump—who was himself close friends with Epstein for years—said he would be willing to release the Epstein files.
After he won, he appointed Epstein truthers Kash Patel and Dan Bongino to serve as director and deputy director of the FBI.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also raised expectations in February when she told Fox News that the Epstein files were “sitting” on her desk.
Earlier this month, however, the MAGA faithful erupted in outrage after the Justice Department and the FBI said in a memo that there was no client list and that Epstein was conclusively not murdered. Trump has sought to quell the furor—so far to no avail.
After Maxwell was arrested in July 2020, Trump, who had spoken fondly of Epstein years before, said, “I just wish her well, frankly.”
