Pam Bondi has been instructed to clarify Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a minimum-security prison amid allegations that she received preferential treatment. Maxwell, the former partner of Jeffrey Epstein, was moved from Florida to the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas shortly after being interviewed by the Trump administration about the paedophile and his network. The British socialite, currently serving a 20-year sentence for procuring underage girls for Epstein, did not implicate Donald Trump in any wrongdoing during her two-day questioning with Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General.
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The timing of Maxwell’s relocation following the interview has prompted accusations that she was rewarded for not implicating the president. Robert Garcia, who is leading the House oversight committee’s investigation into Epstein, has demanded that Mrs Bondi, Mr Trump’s Attorney General, provide an explanation for the transfer. “Each day Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice fail to comply with our subpoena to release the full Epstein files is another day Donald Trump continues his White House cover-up,” he said. The committee, which previously published Epstein’s infamous birthday book containing a risqué note from the president, has given Mrs Bondi until 30 October to respond.
Trump faced criticism over his association with Epstein and the mishandled release of the so-called client list, which he maintains does not exist. Earlier this year, the US Justice Department closed the case on Epstein, ruling there was “no incriminating client list” or evidence that he may have blackmailed prominent figures. Maxwell’s legal team sought to leverage political pressure by offering her cooperation to dispel speculation and pledging to testify before Congress should she receive a pardon. However, her hopes suffered a setback when the Supreme Court rejected her appeal earlier this month.
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Maxwell’s lawyers contend that her conviction is invalid, arguing that a plea agreement with Epstein in Florida in 2007, which shields his associates, should have prevented her criminal prosecution in New York. With the Supreme Court ruling, her only potential route to early release appears to be a presidential pardon, which has not been granted. Maxwell remains in her Texas cell alongside more than 500 inmates, most serving sentences for non-violent or white-collar crimes. According to the prison handbook, life centres around work, with inmates earning up to $1.15 an hour in roles such as food service and factory work. Inmates may also attend classes, participate in sports, watch television, and take part in religious services. Conspiracy theories about Epstein’s trafficking of underage women to high-profile associates persist, despite Kash Patel, director of the FBI, testifying in Congress on 16 September that there was no credible evidence of trafficking beyond Epstein himself.
