Ghislaine Maxwell argued ‘substantial new evidence’ should free her, then new Epstein files surfaced

Days after Ghislaine Maxwell petitioned a judge for her immediate release from a , the public dissemination of grand jury transcripts from her sex trafficking case redirected focus toward the victims whose claims had resulted in her incarceration.

The release of these transcripts, as part of the Justice Department’s continuing publication of its investigative materials on Maxwell and deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, revealed how an FBI agent informed grand jurors about Maxwell’s pivotal involvement in Epstein’s long-term sexual exploitation of girls and young women.

Maxwell, , was found guilty of sex trafficking in December 2021 after four women testified before a federal jury in New York City regarding the abuse they suffered at the hands of her and Epstein during the 1990s and early 2000s. Epstein never stood trial; he was taken into custody in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges and died by suicide a month later in his cell at a Manhattan federal detention center.

Two weeks ago, while the Justice Department was getting ready to start publishing the documents widely referred to as the Epstein files, Maxwell submitted a habeas corpus petition, requesting a federal judge to release her, arguing that “substantial new evidence” had surfaced demonstrating that constitutional violations had tainted her trial.

Maxwell alleged that exculpatory information had been suppressed and that witnesses had provided false testimony. She submitted the petition herself, without legal representation.

This week, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer reprimanded Maxwell for neglecting to redact victim names and other identifying details from her court documents. He ruled that subsequent submissions must remain sealed and inaccessible to the public until they have been examined and edited to safeguard the victims’ identities.

Victims fear Maxwell will be pardoned

Epstein accuser Danielle Bensky stated that the document release has only intensified the scrutiny of Maxwell’s criminal actions among survivors. Bensky mentioned she participates in daily conversations with approximately twenty-four other victims who unanimously agree that Maxwell “is a criminal who was 1,000% engaged in sexual acts.”

“I’ve heard accounts that would horrify you. I spoke with a survivor just last night who described Maxwell as the puppeteer,” Bensky said.

Bensky revealed she had been sexually assaulted by Epstein twenty years ago. She clarified that Maxwell never personally abused her.

Delayed and heavily redacted files

The grand jury proceeding transcripts that led to Maxwell’s indictment were made public this week in accordance with , a law enacted last month after .

The Justice Department has been intermittently publishing records after admitting it would fail to meet last Friday’s congressionally imposed deadline for releasing all documents. It attributed the postponement to the lengthy procedure of concealing victims’ names and other identifying data.

On Wednesday, the department announced it  to release the complete collection after unexpectedly uncovering over a million potentially pertinent documents. This was a surprising turn of events, given that officials had indicated months earlier that they had already catalogued the extensive array of Epstein-related materials.

Certain Epstein and Maxwell grand jury records were first published with extensive redactions—a 119-page document labeled “Grand Jury-NY” was completely obscured. Revised versions were uploaded over the weekend.

FBI agent testifies Maxwell manipulated young girl

An FBI agent’s testimony before the grand jury, detailing interviews with Epstein’s victims, anticipated the trial testimony delivered a year later by four women who outlined Maxwell’s involvement in their sexual exploitation between 1994 and 2004.

The agent recounted a woman’s account of encountering Maxwell and Epstein at age fourteen while attending a Michigan summer arts camp in 1994. Flight records indicated that Epstein and Maxwell had traveled to the school hosting the camp because Epstein contributed financially to the institution.

According to the agent—whose identity was concealed in the transcript—the girl randomly met Epstein and Maxwell one day. Upon discovering she was from Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein noted that he occasionally awarded scholarships to students, and they asked for her phone number, the agent reported.

After returning home, the girl and her mother visited Epstein’s property for tea, and the mother was struck by Epstein’s claims of providing scholarships, so much so that she described him as being like a “godfather,” according to the agent.

The agent stated that the girl started visiting the estate regularly as Epstein and Maxwell “groomed” her with presents and movie outings, and Epstein commenced funding her voice lessons and handing her cash, which he instructed her to give to her financially distressed mother.

The agent noted that the girl found her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell odd, “but Maxwell normalized it for her. She was like a cool, older sister and made comments like, ‘This is what grownups do.'”

Eventually, the agent testified, the girl witnessed Maxwell topless at the pool. After expressing her aspirations to become an actress and model, Epstein informed her that he was close friends with the owner of Victoria’s Secret and that she would need to become comfortable wearing only underwear and overcome any prudishness, the agent reported.

Subsequently, the agent said, when the girl questioned Epstein about his meaning, the financier pulled her onto his lap and masturbated. Following that incident, the agent added, the girl’s meetings with Epstein started to involve sexual contact, especially in his massage room.

Maxwell was occasionally present with other girls, the agent stated. When one of the girls would start massaging Epstein, Maxwell would taunt the girls, according to the agent.

“She’d grab the girl’s breasts, and she would direct the girls on what to do,” the agent said, conveying the girl’s account. Maxwell’s demeanor during these encounters was “very casual; she acted like this was normal,” the agent reported.

The disclosed testimony seemed to mirror the evidence presented at Maxwell’s 2021 trial by a woman who appeared under the alias “Jane.”

During the trial, Jane stated that Maxwell also took part in group encounters involving multiple females and Epstein, which typically commenced with either Epstein or Maxwell escorting everyone into a bedroom or massage room at the Palm Beach property.