Ghislaine Maxwell is unlikely to spill her full Jeffrey Epstein secrets to Congress but losing her Supreme Court appeal in the future could prove pivotal, a lawyer told Newsweek.
Maxwell was subpoenaed last week to testify before the House committee on oversight and government but her lawyer said she would need to be given immunity first.
Speculation has been rife for years that Maxwell, former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, knows his deepest darkest secrets, including those relating to his rich and powerful friends.
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After the apparent DOJ reversal from Pam Bondi saying in January an Epstein client list was on her desk to the DOJ saying in the past few weeks no such list exists, Donald Trump is currently experiencing a major backlash over his own past chequered association with Epstein, who was a guest at the President’s wedding to Marla Maples in 1993.
Trump has previously said he knew nothing of the New York financier’s child sex trafficking offenses. In 2019, he told Sky News: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek Congress cannot actually reduce her time behind bars.
“Anyone who is advising her will be saying ‘hey, you should be thinking about yourself and trying to get yourself out of prison,'” he said.
“The D.O.J. is the folks she should be talking to not Congress. That’s the more direct path to a clear benefit for Maxwell.”
Maxwell did speak to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche after being offered limited immunity by the D.O.J. and her lawyer said she did not ask for anything in return.
However, currently, Maxwell has an ongoing Supreme Court appeal against her sex trafficking conviction, which landed her a 20-year sentence, and she may well hope to win her freedom through that route.
Rahmani said he believes she will fail and only then will she have the motivation to fully engage with the reality that cutting a deal with the D.O.J. is her only means of reducing her jail time.
“When that appeal is denied,” he said, “I don’t think it’s ‘if’ … when that appeal is denied by the Supreme Court maybe she has a look in the mirror and say ‘I have to start thinking about myself and start naming names and take time off my sentence.’
“I would be surprised if she were to testify without some benefit.”
Newsweek approached Maxwell’s lawyer for comment by email.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Plea for Immunity
He also said it would be worth offering Maxwell immunity for her evidence because having already been convicted, immunity itself would not change her time in jail.
“Congress can’t unilaterally grant her immunity,” Rahmani said. “They have to go to court and the Attorney General has to agree because Congress doesn’t prosecute people. The executive branch does, the Department of Justice.
“Even if that happens and she gets immunity for what she did, it doesn’t do anything about her 20-year prison sentence.
“So, what would typically happen in someone whose appeal is denied, and I’d expect her Supreme Court appeal to be denied, they’d cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office under the sentencing guidelines to get their sentence reduced.”
“We would do this all the time at the Department of Justice,” he added, “it’s called Queen for a day. They come in, anything they say can’t be used against them. If we find out information from another source, they can still be prosecuted based on those facts but basically their own words can’t be used against them.
“So I love these types of proffers. I would give that type of limited immunity all the time, especially in a case like this where she’s already been convicted there’s nothing to lose.
“She might just give you information that would allow you to prosecute someone else.”
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Appeal
Maxwell was jailed in 2022 for grooming girls for Epstein to abuse and normalizing his predatory behavior in a case brought in the Southern District of New York.
However, she has appealed to the Supreme Court arguing she should be covered by a plea deal Florida’s attorney struck with Jeffrey Epstein in 2008, which pledged not to prosecute coconspirators.
Trump administration lawyers argue, though, that one district cannot bind another into a deal without its consent.
Rahmani said he felt Maxwell had little chance of success: “The Federal District of Florida in Miami, they can’t bind the Southern District of New York. That law is well established, it’s pretty clear.
“I would be surprised if the Supreme Court even accepted the case. They accept a very small percentage of cases.
“Much less agree that the original Epstein deal covered her, the non-prosecution agreement.”
Ghislaine Maxwell ‘Knows Where the Bodies are Buried’
Rahmani felt it was possible Maxwell is sitting on relevant information that could help the D.O.J: “It’s very possible, she knows where the bodies are buried. I think her testimony was a complete lie and a fabrication and, if she were to tell the truth, I do think there were other participants in these sex acts.
“She is by far the best source of information now that Epstein is dead.
“I think she will have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment and see the writing on the wall when that appeal is finally denied and if she has delusions that she’s actually innocent or that she’s covered by that plea agreement.”
Donald Trump’s Epstein Denials
Trump is by no means the only prominent man facing questions over his friendship with Epstein but the issue has exposed a rift between the president and elements of his MAGA base.
No evidence has been produced to link Trump to any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Trump has been asked repeatedly about the saga, telling journalists in Scotland on Monday: “I never had the privilege of going to his [Epstein’s] island, and I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island.
“In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn’t want to go to his island.”
