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Public release of Epstein records puts Maxwell under fresh scrutiny
Court News |
2025/12/17 08:35
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Days after Ghislaine Maxwell asked a judge to immediately free her from a 20-year prison sentence, the public release of grand jury transcripts from her sex trafficking case returned the spotlight to victims whose allegations helped land her behind bars.
The disclosure of the transcripts as part of the Justice Department’s ongoing release of its investigative files on Maxwell and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein exposed how an FBI agent told grand jurors about Maxwell’s critical role in Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse of girls and young women.
Maxwell, a British socialite and publishing heir, was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 after four women told a federal jury in New York City about how she and Epstein abused them in the 1990s and early 2000s. Epstein never went to trial. He was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges and killed himself a month later in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail.
Two weeks ago, as the Justice Department prepared to begin releasing what are commonly known as the Epstein files, Maxwell filed a habeas petition, asking a federal judge to free her on grounds that “substantial new evidence” has emerged proving that constitutional violations spoiled her trial.
Maxwell claimed exonerating information was withheld and that witnesses lied in their testimony. She filed the petition on her own, without the assistance of a lawyer.
This week, the judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, scolded Maxwell for failing to remove victim names and other identifying information from her court papers. He said future filings must be kept sealed and out of public view until they have been reviewed and redacted to protect victims’ identities.
Victims fear Maxwell will be pardoned
Epstein accuser Danielle Bensky said the release of records has only sharpened the focus on Maxwell’s crimes among their victims. Bensky said she’s been involved in daily discussions with about two dozen other victims that make clear Maxwell “is a criminal who was 1,000% engaged in sexual acts.”
“I’ve heard things that would make your blood curdle. I just had a conversation with a survivor last night who said she was the puppeteer,” Bensky said.
Bensky said she was sexually abused by Epstein two decades ago. She said she was never personally abused by Maxwell.
Delayed and heavily redacted files
The transcripts of grand jury proceedings that resulted in Maxwell’s indictment were released this week in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law enacted last month after months of public and political pressure.
The Justice Department has been periodically posting records after acknowledging it would miss last Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline to release all records. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring victims’ names and other identifying information.
On Wednesday, the department said it may need a “few more weeks” to release the full trove after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents. It was a stunning development after department officials suggested months ago that they’d already accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.
Some of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury records were initially released with heavy redactions — A 119-page document marked “Grand Jury-NY” — was entirely blacked out. Updated versions were posted over the weekend.
FBI agent testifies Maxwell manipulated young girl
An FBI agent’s grand jury testimony, describing interviews conducted with Epstein victims, foreshadowed trial testimony a year later from four women who described Maxwell’s role in their sexual abuse from 1994 to 2004.
The agent told of a woman who described meeting Maxwell and Epstein as a 14-year-old attending a Michigan summer arts camp in 1994. Flight logs showed Epstein and Maxwell went to the school sponsoring the camp because Epstein was a donor.
According to the agent, whose name was redacted from the transcript, the girl had a chance encounter with Epstein and Maxwell one day. After learning that the girl was from Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein mentioned that he sometimes gave scholarships to students and they requested her phone number, the agent said.
Once home, the girl visited Epstein’s estate with her mother for tea and the mother was impressed when Epstein said he provided scholarships, enough so that the mother said Epstein was like a “godfather,” the agent said.
The agent said the girl began regularly going to the estate as Epstein and Maxwell “groomed” her with gifts and trips to the movies, and Epstein began paying for voice lessons and giving her money that he said she should give to her struggling mother.
The agent said the girl thought her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell was strange, “but Maxwell normalized it for her. She was like a cool, older sister and made comments like, ‘This is what grownups do.’”
Eventually, the agent testified, the girl saw Maxwell topless at the pool. After she revealed that she hoped to be an actor and a model, Epstein told her he was best friends with the owner of Victoria’s Secret and that she’ll have to learn to be comfortable in her underwear and not be a prude, the agent said.
Then, the agent said, the girl asked Epstein what he meant by that and the financier pulled her into his lap and masturbated. After that, the agent added, the girl’s encounters with Epstein began to include sexual contact, particularly in his massage room.
Maxwell was sometimes there with other girls, the agent said. One of the girls would begin massaging Epstein and Maxwell would tease the girls, the agent said.
“She’d grab the girl’s breasts, and she would direct the girls on what to do,” the agent said, relaying the girl’s account. Maxwell’s attitude during the encounters was ”very casual; she acted like this was normal,” the agent said.
The released testimony appeared to reflect the testimony at Maxwell’s 2021 trial by a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
At trial, Jane said Maxwell also participated in group sessions between multiple females and Epstein that usually began with Epstein or Maxwell leading them all into a bedroom or a massage room at the Palm Beach residence.
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Former Honduras President Hernández freed after Trump pardon
Court News |
2025/12/02 21:39
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Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, his wife announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate website showed that Hernández was released from U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday and a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday confirmed his release.
His wife Ana García thanked Trump for pardoning Hernández via the social platform X early Tuesday.
“After almost four years of pain, of waiting and difficult challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” García’s post said. She included a picture of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons listing for Hernández indicating his release.
On Sunday, Trump was asked about why he pardoned Hernandez by reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.
“I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras,” Trump said.
“The people of Honduras really thought he was set up, and it was a terrible thing,” he said.
“They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up. And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”
Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after handing over power to current President Xiomara Castro.
Two years later, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could safely move some 400 tons of cocaine north through Honduras to the United States.
Hernández maintained throughout that he was innocent and the victim of revenge by drug traffickers he had helped extradite to the United States.
During his sentencing in New York, federal Judge P. Kevin Castel said the punishment should serve as a warning to “well educated, well dressed” individuals who gain power and think their status insulates them from justice when they do wrong.
Hernández portrayed himself as a hero of the anti-drug trafficking movement who teamed up with American authorities under three U.S. presidential administrations to reduce drug imports.
But the judge said trial evidence proved the opposite and that Hernández employed “considerable acting skills” to make it seem that he was an anti-drug trafficking crusader while he deployed his nation’s police and military, when necessary, to protect the drug trade.
Hernández is not guaranteed a quick return to Honduras.
Immediately after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernández, Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya said via X that his office was obligated to seek justice and put an end to impunity.
He did not specify what charges Hernández could face in Honduras. There were various corruption-related investigations of his administration across two terms in office that did not lead to charges against him. President Xiomara Castro, who had Hernández arrested and extradited him to the U.S., will remain in office until January.
The pardon promised by Trump days before Honduras’ presidential election injected a new element into the contest that some said helped the candidate from his National Party Nasry Asfura, one of the leaders as the vote count proceeded Tuesday.
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UAB football player accused of stabbing 2 teammates before game
Court News |
2025/11/23 21:35
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A University of Alabama at Birmingham football player stabbed two teammates Saturday morning hours before the team’s game against the University of South Florida, the university said in a statement.
The two wounded players were in stable condition, interim head coach Alex Mortensen said at the postgame news conference. He said the team decided to play to honor graduating seniors in the last home game of the season, though several players opted to sit it out due to the incident.
The teammate suspected in the stabbing was in custody, the university said. The school did not release the names of the players involved.
Daniel Mincey, an offensive lineman who transferred to UAB in May, was arrested and booked on charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder in the afternoon, according to Jefferson County Jail records. He was in custody in Birmingham and appeared to be the only UAB player who was arrested Saturday.
It was not immediately clear if Mincey had legal representation. Attempts to reach family members for comment were not immediately successful.
UAB officials would not confirm that Mincey was involved in the stabbing. The team’s online roster lists Mincey as a 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman from Pompano Beach, Florida, who was previously at the University of Kentucky.
Mortensen said that once the team decided to play, it focused on its normal game-day routines. He also said counseling was being made available for players who want it.
The coach declined to share further details about the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.
The stabbing occurred on campus at the Football Operations Building.
The Blazers lost 48-18 to South Florida to fall to 3-8 on the season and 1-6 in the American Conference. Their last game is Nov. 29 at Tulsa.
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S. Carolina lawmakers look at the most restrictive abortion bill in the US
Court News |
2025/11/18 06:37
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A bill that would allow judges to sentence women who get abortions to decades in prison and could restrict the use of IUDs and in vitro fertilization goes before a small group of South Carolina senators Tuesday.
This would be the first of at least a half-dozen legislative steps for the proposal that includes the strictest abortion prohibitions and punishments in the nation.
The subcommittee of the state Senate’s Medical Affairs Committee can change it Tuesday afternoon and even if it’s approved, its prospects are doubtful at best.
But even at this stage, the bill has gone further than any other such proposal across the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, opening the door for states to implement abortion bans.
The proposal would ban all abortions unless the woman’s life is threatened. Current state law bans abortions after cardiac activity is detected, which is typically six week into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Current law also allows abortions for rape and incest victims up to 12 weeks.
The proposal would also do things that aren’t being done in any other state. Women who get an abortion and anyone who helps them could face up to 30 years in prison. It appears to ban any contraception that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting, which would ban intrauterine devices and could limit in vitro fertilization.
Providing information about abortions would be illegal, leaving doctors worried they couldn’t suggest places where the procedure is legal.
Republican Sen. Richard Cash, who sponsors the bill and is one of the Senate’s most strident voices against abortion, will run Tuesday’s subcommittee. He acknowledged problems last month with potentially banning contraception and restricting the advice doctors can give to patients. But he has given no indication what changes he or the rest of the subcommittee might support. Six of the nine members are Republicans.
Abortion remains an unsettled issue in conservative states and how much more to restrict it is fracturing anti-abortion groups.
South Carolina Citizens for Life, one of the state’s largest and oldest opponents of abortion, issued a statement last month saying it can’t support Cash’s bill because women who get abortions are victims too and shouldn’t be punished.
On the other side, at least for this bill, are groups like Equal Protection South Carolina. “Abortion is murder and should be treated as such,” founder Mark Corral said.
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FEMA acting chief David Richardson departs after six months on the job
Court News |
2025/11/15 06:38
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The acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency left his job Monday after just six months, according to the Department of Homeland Security, the latest disruption in a year of mass staff departures, program cuts and policy upheaval at the agency charged with managing federal disaster response.
David Richardson, who in his brief term remained largely out of public sight, is leaving the post after he faced a wave of criticism for his handling of the deadly Texas floods earlier this year. He replaced previous acting head Cameron Hamilton in May.
DHS did not comment on the details of Richardson’s departure, but a FEMA employee familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Richardson resigned. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the changes with the media.
The Washington Post first reported the news about Richardson’s resignation.
A former Marine Corps officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and also led the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office, Richardson had no previous emergency management experience when he assumed the role of “senior official performing the duties of administrator” in May.
After replacing Hamilton, who was fired one day after telling a House appropriations committee that he did not think FEMA should be eliminated, Richardson vowed to help fulfill President Donald Trump’s goal to push more disaster recovery responsibilities to the states and told FEMA employees he would “ run right over ” anyone who tried to obstruct that mission.
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