Tag: sex trafficking

The Epstein Files: What we know, and don’t know

As the Jeffrey Epstein case becomes a thorn in the side of the Trump administration, here is what we already know about the now-deceased financial manager and convicted child sex offender, what we don’t know, and why the Justice Department says it is reluctant to release more. 

Epstein was a mysterious man of power and influence. He rubbed elbows with the world’s elite and died under widely questioned circumstances in his jail cell while awaiting trial in Manhattan on sex trafficking charges. 

In the indictment against him, the Justice Department alleged the financier “sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money.” Officials ruled that Epstein had committed suicide. 

The strange circumstances of his untimely death and his association with rich and powerful figures has captivated audiences and inspired theories about blackmail operations, foreign intelligence work, and coverups of murder—all of which remain unverified. 

Many officials now working for the Trump administration promised that they would deliver transparency in the Epstein case and vowed to release as many documents and case details to the public as possible. Trump often alleged the then-current government was concealing details to protect elites, as FBI Director Kash Patel also claimed in 2023.

Patel, along with Attorney General Pam Bondi, released a “First Phase” of Epstein documents in February pursuant to their effort to bring transparency to the case. Those files included six batches of the flight logs from Epstein’s private plane, nicknamed by observers as “The Lolita Express,” and his contact book, both of which were previously known to the public. 

The Justice Department also released an evidence list from a search of Epstein’s properties and a heavily redacted list of masseuses that were not previously public.  

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ABC News: Maxwell Given Limited Immunity in DOJ Talks

Ghislaine Maxwell, former associate and onetime girlfriend of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was given limited immunity by the Department of Justice to talk freely with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over their two days of meetings, ABC News reported Friday.

Blanche and Maxwell spoke for about nine hours over the two days, meetings that Maxwell initiated with the DOJ, ABC News reported. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, told ABC News that Maxwell was asked about “maybe 100 different people” by Blanche.

The so-called proffer immunity was given to assuage any fear by Maxwell that information she gave couldn’t be used against her in new proceedings, according to the report.

“She didn’t hold anything back,” Markus told ABC News.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida for sex trafficking underage and minor girls. She is appealing the conviction to the Supreme Court based on an agreement Epstein secured with state and federal officials during a plea bargain he reached in Florida in 2008.

Maxwell, accompanied by Markus, held the talks with Blanche at the Joseph Woodrow Hatchett U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Tallahassee. They spoke for three hours on Friday after a six-hour session on Thursday.

“We haven’t asked for anything. This is not a situation where we are asking for anything in return for testimony or anything like that,” Markus told the outlet. “Of course, everybody knows Ms. Maxwell would welcome any relief.”

President Donald Trump on Friday said he has “not thought about” pardoning Maxwell, adding, “I certainly can’t talk about pardons.”

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Ghislaine Maxwell gives Trump DOJ info on ‘100 different people’ linked to Epstein, attorney says

An attorney for Ghislaine Maxwell reveled on Friday after their client’s meeting with the Department of Justice that Maxwell gave authorities information about “100 different people” linked to infamous financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

Per the New York Post, attorney David Oscar Markus said that Maxwell was “asked about everything possible you could imagine—everything.”

He added, “This was the first opportunity she’s ever been given to answer questions about what happened. The truth will come out about what happened with Mr. Epstein and she’s the person who’s answering those questions.”

He said that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had “every single question” answered by Maxwell, who declined to plead the Fifth. 

“If she lies they could charge her with lying,” Marcus said at one point, to which a reporter replied, “They did charge her with lying.” Marcus noted that the two perjury counts Maxwell had been charged with were dropped by the feds after her conviction.

Maxwell’s attorney also said that they hope Trump “exercises the [pardon] power in the right and just way.” Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex crimes. Trump was asked about the possibility on Friday after he landed in Scotland, to which he said, “I really have nothing to say about it.”

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Authorities: 7 arrested after at least 10 kids, some as young as 2, sexually tortured with shock collars in Alabama sex-trafficking ring

Seven people have been arrested after at least 10 children, as young as 2 years old, were held captive in an Alabama storm bunker for three years and sexually tortured through the use of tools like animal shock collars as part of a sex-trafficking ring.

According to Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade, seven suspects have been arrested as part of the roundup of the ring, including three family members and two mothers whose children were also trapped and abused in the basement.

“I know God’s forgiveness is boundless, but if there is a limit, we’ve reached it,” Wade said. 

The suspects have been identified as Rebecca Brewer, 29, Sara Louise Terrell, 41, Ricky Terrell, 44, Dalton Terrell, 21, William Chase McElroy, 21, Andres Velazquez-Trejo, 29, and Timothy St. John, 23. 

All of the suspects are currently facing a list of charges ranging from sodomy and rape to sexual torture and human trafficking.

According to investigators, all the suspects played a specific role in the ring. 

Bibb County Assistant District Attorney Bryan Jones said Velazquez-Trejo would allegedly drug the victims by putting a white powder in their drinks before bringing in clients who would pay up to $1,000 to have sex with them. 

He continued stating that the children would be tied up during the act, often to the limited furniture in the room, including a grimy mattress, a chair, and a support pole.

Jones said that two of the victims were forced to perform sexual acts on each other and told authorities that McElroy was the one who had both taught them the process and performed it on them himself. 

According to public court documents, Sara Louise Terrell allegedly placed animal shock collars on the children, which the suspects would use on the victim’s genitals as a form of punishment and self-serving sexual gratification.

Wade stated that the victims included both her children and Velazquez-Trejo and Brewer’s three children. Brewer also has a fourth child from a separate relationship.

Authorities stated that it is unclear how many children belonging to Sara Louise Terrell were involved, or who their fathers were.

Court records stated that other suspects arrested were allegedly responsible for selling and purchasing the children, and Velazquez-Trejo would additionally sell nude pictures of the victims.

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House Panel Votes to Subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton over Alleged Jeffrey Epstein Links

A House Oversight panel subcommittee voted to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton for alleged links to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The motion for subpoenas was issued by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) during a Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. No roll call was taken, and the subpoena was approved by a Republican-led panel via voice vote. Per the New York Post:

The Clintons and several former top Justice Department officials – ex-FBI Director James Comey, one-time special counsel Robert Mueller and former attorneys general Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales – were included in the list of subpoenas sought by Perry in order to “expand the full committees investigation into Ms. Maxwell.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) would need to formally issue the subpoenas to the Clintons and the others for them to be compelled to provide testimony or documents to the panel.

Former President Clinton acknowledged in his 2024 book Citizen: My Life After the White House that he flew aboard Epstein’s private plane, a.k.a. the Lolita Express, as part of his work with the Clinton Global Initiative nonprofit.

“I wish I had never met him,” Clinton wrote, asserting it was “not worth the years of questioning afterward.”

Epstein also visited the White House at least 17 times shortly after Clinton was sworn into office in 1993.

In December 2021, a jury convicted Maxwell of sex trafficking of minors, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three counts of conspiracy. She was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, the DOJ “filed a motion to have grand jury testimonies relating to convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein unsealed, according to multiple reports.”

“In a motion filed in the United States District Court – Southern District of New York, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called for the court ‘to release grand jury transcripts associated with’ the indictment referring to Epstein,” said the report.

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Florida Judge Says ‘Hands Are Tied,’ Won’t Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Transcripts

A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s request to unseal transcripts from Florida grand jury proceedings related to a 20-year-old criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, saying her “hands are tied.”

U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida Robin Rosenberg wrote in her denial that an unrelated 2020 ruling by the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “does not permit” her to unseal grand jury records in instances not covered by the criminal procedure rule, CNBC reported.

“Eleventh Circuit law does not permit this Court to grant the Government’s request; the Court’s hands are tied — a point the Government concedes,” Rosenberg wrote.

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) petitioned the U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida, to obtain the transcripts from two grand juries that convened there in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

In its argument for the transcripts, which are normally left sealed in such cases, the DOJ pointed to a “strong public interest in the historical investigation into Jeffrey Epstein,” the convicted sex offender suspected of trafficking minors to other pedophiles.

The DOJ also argued that “many of the rationales supporting grand jury secrecy” no longer apply since Epstein’s 2019 death, which the department claimed was a suicide earlier this month. 

The controversial memo from the DOJ, headed by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, also claimed there was no evidence of a “client list” belonging to Epstein to blackmail people with.

Neither argument provided by the department would qualify as an exception to the rule regarding the transcripts, Rosenberg wrote in her Wednesday decision. 

The Florida judge’s ruling does not impact two other pending requests by the DOJ that seek grand jury transcripts related to the later investigations that led to the 2019 and 2020 New York indictments of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. 

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House speaker says there will be no votes on releasing Epstein files before August recess

The House of Representatives will not move forward with any legislative efforts aimed at releasing files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein before its monthlong August recess, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Monday. 

“No,” Johnson responded when asked by CNN reporter Manu Raju if lawmakers would vote on a resolution calling for the public disclosure of documents related to Epstein’s case before the lower chamber takes its annual summer break. 

The House speaker argued that Congress needs to give the Trump administration “space” to handle the hot-button issue on its own for the time being. 

“There is no daylight between the House Republicans, the House and the president on maximum transparency,” Johnson said. “[President Trump] has said that he wants all the credible files relating to Epstein to be released. He’s asked the attorney general to request the grand jury files of the court. All of that is in process right now.”  

“My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing.” 

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US House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Epstein’s Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell – Disgraced British Socialite and Convicted Sex Trafficker Will Be Deposed on August 11

Maxwell is back in the spotlight.

From the obscurity of her FCI Tallahassee, Florida cell, to the screens of the US Capitol in DC, Ghislaine Maxwell is again the talk of the town.

She was born into a life of privilege and tragedies. The youngest daughter of Czech-British media mogul (and alleged intelligence asset) Robert Maxwell, she saw her life crumble after his father ‘fell from the boat’ and a scandal broke regarding the fact that Maxwell was stealing from the pension funds of his employees.

She fled Britain and the scandals, and ended up with her Jay Gatsby from hell, the ‘financier’ Jeffrey Epstein, coincidentally also rumored to be an intelligence asset.

CBS News reported:

“The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell, an accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, to sit for a deposition as fallout over the Trump administration’s handling of the case intensifies.

‘The facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr. Epstein’s cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny’, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the committee, wrote to Maxwell.

Comer said the committee is seeking Maxwell’s testimony “to inform the consideration of potential legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”

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What Ghislaine Maxwell really knows — and why she could finally spill all on Jeffrey Epstein: sources

Ex-socialite Ghislaine Maxwell will try to cut a deal with federal authorities during a jailhouse meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, sources told The Post.

Blanche said Tuesday he plans to meet with the convicted madam, currently serving a 20-year sentence in Florida for sex-trafficking young women for her former boss, notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“She’s going to make a deal,” said Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer and law professor who was pals with, and previously represented, Epstein, who died in federal custody in August 2019.

“That’s the way things are done. They make deals with the Mafia, so I’m certain they are going to try to make a deal with her.”

A separate legal expert explained that meeting with Blanche presents an opportunity for Maxwell to potentially lessen her sentence or get out of prison in exchange for spilling secrets about her and Epstein’s life, which she has closely guarded since his death.

Dershowitz has referred to Maxwell, 63, as the “Rosetta Stone” of information about Epstein, and told The Post Tuesday “she knows everything — not just about the perpetrators but the victims. And she knows about the victims who became perpetrators.”

Some of Epstein’s victims — who number over 1,000 in total, according to the Department of Justice — were groomed to recruit other young women, according to court papers.

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The Untouchables: The Sexual Predators Within America’s Power Elite

“Now by coming in and being part of the cover-up, the Trump administration has become part of it.”
—Alex Jones, InfoWars

Once again, the American police state is choosing to protect predators, not victims.

Jeffrey Epstein—the hedge fund billionaire/convicted serial pedophile and sex trafficker—may be dead, but the machinery that empowered and protected him is still very much alive.

You see, the Epstein case was never just about Epstein—it was about the entire edifice of power that shields the ruling class, silences victims, and erases accountability.

Thus, the latest about-face declarations from the Trump administration—that Epstein had no client list, that he did in fact kill himself, and that there’s nothing more to discuss or investigate so we should just move on—have only reinforced what many have suspected all along: the system is rigged in order to protect the power elite because the power elite are the system.

In this age of partisan politics and a deeply polarized populace, corruption—especially when it involves sexual debauchery, depravity and predatory behavior—has become the great equalizer.

With the reemergence of Jeffrey Epstein’s ghost in the public discourse, we are once again reminded of just how deep the rot goes.

Politics, religion, entertainment, business, law enforcement, the military—it doesn’t matter the arena or affiliation: all are riddled with the kind of seedy, depraved behavior that gets a free pass when it involves the powerful.

For years, the Epstein case has stood as a grotesque emblem of the depravity within America’s power elite: billionaires, politicians, and celebrities who allegedly trafficked in sex with young girls while insulated from accountability.

It is believed that Epstein, who died in jail after being arrested on charges of molesting, raping and sex trafficking dozens of young girls, operated a sex trafficking ring not only for his own personal pleasure but also for that of his friends and business associates.

According to The Washington Post, “several of the young women…say they were offered to the rich and famous as sex partners at Epstein’s parties.”

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