Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted accomplice of financier Jeffrey Epstein, refused this Monday (9) to answer any questions from a US House of Representatives committee investigating the sex trafficking network run by Epstein.
Maxwell participated via videoconference in a previously scheduled deposition, but invoked her constitutional right to remain silent, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, so as not to produce evidence against herself, said James Comer, the committee’s Republican chairman.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating Epstein and the role the financier’s wide network of relationships may have played in facilitating the scheme or delaying criminal accountability.
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Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of recruiting girls for sexual abuse and participating in some of the assaults. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
“She did not answer any questions and did not provide any information about the men who raped and trafficked women and girls,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the panel’s top Democrat. “Who is she protecting?”
Retail billionaire Les Wexner is scheduled to testify on February 18, according to Comer.
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Epstein was Wexner’s asset manager for many years. An assistant U.S. attorney in Miami contacted Wexner directly in 2007 in the context of a money laundering investigation involving Epstein, according to the Bloomberg. The billionaire broke ties with Epstein shortly after and later accused him of deceiving him and embezzling “vast sums of money from me and my family.”
Ro Khanna, a Democratic deputy who sits on the committee, said that Andrew Mountbatten, brother of King Charles, should also be called to testify to clarify his activities with Epstein.
After wrestling with the committee over the terms of their testimony, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will appear before Congress on February 26 and 27, the panel confirmed.
A former president’s testimony to a Congressional committee is almost unheard of.
Epstein died in prison in August 2019.
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