Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas, authorities have confirmed.
The move comes as Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, has pressed the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction while also seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump.
Earlier in July, Maxwell held two meetings with US Deputy US Attorney General, the details of which have not been made public.
Maxwell has been at the centre of controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files, and the reasons for her transfer from the Florida prison are unclear.
While speculation has been rife that Trump may pardon Maxwell, the White House has previously said “no leniency is being given or discussed”.
The BBC has contacted the White House for comment on Maxwell’s move to Texas.
“We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,” the BOP said in a statement on Friday.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, confirmed the transfer but declined further comment.
In a statement, the family of the late Virginia Giuffre – one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – expressed their “horror and disgust” at what they described as the “preferential treatment” given to Ghislaine Maxwell.
They further condemned the move as having been made “without any notification to Maxwell’s victims”.
“This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes,” the statement said. “The American public should be outraged by the special treatment afforded to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender.”
The facility, FPC Bryant, is located about 100 miles (160km) from the Texas capital of Austin.
Like other federal prison camps, inmates at FPC Bryant are housed in dormitories, with a low staff-to-inmate ratio compared to other, more secure federal prisons. It houses inmates serving time for non-violent offences and white-collar crimes.
Also housed among the approximately 650 female inmates at the facility is disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being found guilty of defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up in 2022.
By comparison, the facility where Maxwell was housed in Florida, FCI Tallahassee, houses over 800 inmates, both men and women. Both facilities are officially deemed to be “low-security” federal prisons.
While discipline is strict at the facility and all prisoners are expected to work, they also have access to foreign language and business classes, can play sports, watch television and attend religious services.
Contact with family members is allowed to video calls, and inmates are permitted visitors during weekends and holidays, according to a prison handbook published by authorities online.
Less than a week ago, Maxwell’s legal team indicated that she was willing to testify before Congress on what she knows about the case, but only if she is granted strict legal protections.
However on Friday, the scheduled 11 August deposition was indefinitely postponed, the chair of the House Oversight Committee announced.
Rep James Comer said while the committee was “willing to continue to engage in good faith negotiations”, it would not grant her congressional immunity or provide questions in advance, two conditions Maxwell’s lawyers had requested.
Earlier in July, she held two meetings with Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said he planned to see if she could provide additional information on other people who might have been helped by Epstein to sexually abuse girls.
After the meetings, he said that he would reveal what he learned at an “appropriate time”. Maxwell’s lawyer has said that she has not made promises or sought anything in exchange.
Pressure has been growing on President Trump to release more files related to the Epstein case, after he repeatedly promised to do so while on the campaign trail last year.
Trump has instead accused political rivals of using the case to distract from his achievements since returning to office.
By BBC News
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