Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States for her role in a sex trafficking ring run by billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein, said she plans to petition for her release.
The plan was revealed in a court filing Wednesday, but it did not provide details on the legal basis Maxwell cited in his petition. He added that he would aim for early release without the help of a lawyer.
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The letter also warned that documents related to Maxwell’s case should not be made public because they may “contain unverified and unproven allegations.”
The release of grand jury materials related to Maxwell’s case, if her motion to release her is successful, “would create unfair prejudice so severe as to preclude the possibility of a fair retrial.”
The petition comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the late Mr. Epstein’s crimes and those who may have known about them.
President Donald Trump, in particular, faces questions about his administration’s handling of files related to the case that may contain details of Epstein’s most prominent associates.
Critics have also pressed Trump to address his own relationship with Epstein.
Speculation about pardons
The billionaire investor died by suicide in August 2019 while being held in a New York City jail.
Hundreds of women have come forward as survivors of Epstein’s crimes. Many are calling for more accountability from Epstein’s political and business associates.
The circumstances of Mr. Epstein’s death and his influential social circle have also fueled conspiracy theories about a possible cover-up and anonymous accomplices.
Those who spread the conspiracy theory included members of President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) wing, including officials like Kash Patel.
Patel, who is currently the FBI director, spoke on a podcast before taking office about the possibility that Epstein kept a “client list” or “black book” to blackmail his contacts.
But Mr. Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi blasted those conspiracy theories in a July memo arguing that neither the client list nor the basis for prosecuting additional defendants existed.
The memo upset some in President Trump’s MAGA base and brought new attention to the president’s relationship with Epstein.
The Trump administration has sought to quell such speculation, with Trump himself denying any close ties to the financier.
Amid pressure to release all of the government’s Epstein files, the Trump administration sent Justice Department officials to meet with Maxwell over two days in July.
In records released later, Maxwell said she never saw Trump in an “inappropriate setting.”
Shortly after the July interview, Maxwell was transferred from a Florida prison to a low-security facility in Texas.
Push to release the document
The Trump administration has promised transparency in its handling of the Epstein case, but critics say it is avoiding releasing relevant files.
But in late November, President Trump changed his tune on the issue, signing a bill passed by Congress requiring the Justice Department to release all unclassified material about Epstein in a “searchable and downloadable format” within 30 days.
There is also widespread speculation that President Trump may move to pardon or commute Maxwell’s sentence.
House Democrats announced in November that they had received a whistleblower complaint alleging that Maxwell was preparing a “pay reduction application” to submit to the Trump administration.
Weeks later, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Jamie Raskin, filed a petition opposing the president’s pardon or commutation of sentence.
“All member states should support this resolution to send a clear and unambiguous message before President Donald Trump again makes a mockery of pardon powers.”
“America opposes giving any get-out-of-jail-free card to an unrepentant, lying criminal who was an integral part of a vicious multibillion-dollar international child sex trafficking ring.”
Trump has maintained that he is not considering pardoning Maxwell.
