The family of Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent sex trafficking accusers, have said they are “outraged” over the US Department of Justice’s release of an interview with Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell – a convicted sex trafficker and ex-girlfriend of the deceased paedophile financier Epstein – refuted several claims of child sex trafficking and abuse during the two-day-long interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.
Reacting after the transcripts of the interview were released on Friday, Ms Giuffre’s family said it gave Maxwell the “platform to rewrite history” and showed she was “never challenged about her court-proven lies”.
“As the family of one of the most prominent survivors, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we are outraged,” they said in a statement.
“The content of these transcripts is in direct contradiction with felon Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction for child sex trafficking.”
Ms Giuffre’s family added: “This travesty of justice entirely invalidates the experiences of the many brave survivors who put their safety, security, and lives on the line to ensure her conviction, including our sister.”
Referencing Maxwell’s move to a minimum-security facility in Texas earlier this month, they said it “sends a disturbing message that child sex trafficking is acceptable and will be rewarded”.
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“We continue to call upon the DOJ (Department of Justice) to do its job by investigating and holding accountable the many rich and powerful people who enabled Ghislaine Maxwell’s and Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” they concluded.
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, had previously claimed that Maxwell introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, before she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.
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She sued Prince Andrew for sexual abuse in August 2021 – saying he had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by Epstein.
The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.
In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.
During her interview with Mr Blanche last month, Maxwell said Ms Giuffre’s allegation against the duke “doesn’t hold water”, and denied ever introducing Epstein to him or Sarah Ferguson.
She insisted Epstein and Andrew met separately, and said “I think Sarah [Ferguson] is the one that pushed that”, before saying that allegations Andrew had sex with Ms Giuffre were untrue, as she was at her mother’s 80th birthday celebrations in the countryside outside the city.
Maxwell then claimed Ms Giuffre’s allegation that she and Andrew had sexual contact in the bathroom of her London flat was not true, as the room was not big enough.
She also claimed that an image of her standing alongside Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist was “literally a fake photo”.
During the interview with Mr Blanche, Maxwell denied ever seeing US President Donald Trump in an “inappropriate setting” and insisted she was not aware of any Epstein ‘client list’.
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Under growing pressure to release files related to Epstein, as he promised to do during his 2024 presidential campaign, Mr Trump has made a series of denials and claims about the paedophile financier.
In July, the president told reporters on Air Force One that Epstein “stole” Ms Giuffre and other young women from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
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Mr Trump has also floated a pardon for Maxwell, saying earlier this month that “nobody” had asked to but insisted that he has “the right to do it”.
“I’m allowed to do it, but nobody’s asked me to do it. I know nothing about it,” he added. “I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it.
“I have the right to give pardons, I’ve given pardons to people before, but nobody’s even asked me to do it.”
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Maxwell was sentenced in the US in June 2022 to 20 years in prison following her conviction on five counts of sex trafficking for luring young girls to massage rooms for Epstein to abuse. She has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
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His case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories due to his and Maxwell’s links to famous people like royals, presidents and billionaires, including Mr Trump.
No one other than Epstein and Maxwell has been charged with any criminal offences.
