Ghislaine Maxwell is apparently ready to give Washington’s rumor mill a gourmet feast of Jeffrey Epstein stories — but only if she gets a legal golden ticket first. According to the New York Post, the imprisoned socialite’s lawyers say she will take the Fifth and stay silent if she is not granted immunity before appearing under a congressional subpoena.
Maxwell, 63, got her official invite to the political hot seat in late July when she was ordered to sit for a deposition with the House Oversight Committee. This came right after she had already endured a nine-hour grilling over two days from the Department of Justice, which probably felt like binge-watching an unpleasant reality show where you are the main contestant.
The timing is awkward for the DOJ and FBI, who are already catching heat from critics for insisting Epstein kept no client list of alleged abusers and for maintaining that his 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell was a straightforward suicide. For many, that explanation is about as convincing as a dog eating homework for the third time this month.
Maxwell who is in the middle of a 20 year staycation in federal prison for sex trafficking and conspiracy linked to Epstein’s abuse of underage girls is still busy rearranging the legal furniture. She now wants the Supreme Court to hear her criminal appeal leaning on a 2008 non prosecution agreement cooked up by Epstein’s lawyers and garnished with his prostitution solicitation plea deal as if this vintage legal recipe might somehow get her off the menu entirely.
Maxwell’s brother Ian told the Enquirer he believes her trial was rigged because authorities needed someone to take the fall after Epstein’s mysterious demise in custody. Whether that theory holds water or just drips conspiracy is a separate debate, but it adds another layer to this already messy cake.
According to The Hill, Maxwell’s lawyer David Oscar Markus wrote to the committee warning that speaking without immunity could “prejudice her legal claims.” Translation for non-lawyers: she is not about to give away potential bargaining chips unless there is something in it for her.
The bid for immunity, however, was quickly rejected, leaving Maxwell in the same cell but now with more headlines. Politico reported that her lawyers have tried to keep the door open for a compromise, saying, “We remain open to working with the Committee to find a path forward that respects her constitutional rights and enables her to assist the American people.”
Of course, “assist the American people” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Whether that assistance involves genuine revelations or just another round of high-profile deflection remains to be seen. For now, the situation is a standoff — Congress wants answers, Maxwell wants protection, and the public wants to know just how many more times this scandal can add a new chapter without ever getting to the final page.
If nothing else, it proves one thing: even behind bars, Ghislaine Maxwell still knows how to keep herself at the center of a story that refuses to stop moving.