Giuffre family blasts Trump for Maxwell's prison move: "Smacks of a cover up"
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Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, center, exits from federal court in New York in 2019. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The family of Virginia Giuffre and other accusers of Jeffrey Epstein expressed "outrage" over Ghislaine Maxwell's move to a minimum security prison in Texas Friday, calling it "a cover up."
The big picture: The Giuffre family has been speaking out recently against Maxwell as she has returned to the spotlight amid President Trump's handling of the Epstein documents.
- The late Giuffre, who died by suicide at age 41 in April, previously alleged Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago for Epstein.
Driving the news: Maxwell, who was serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida, has been moved to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, her attorney confirmed to Axios Friday.
- The minimum-security facility has hosted notable public figures such as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and reality TV star Jen Shah.
- The move came as Maxwell has been appealing her conviction. She spoke with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for nine hours over two days last week.
What they're saying: "President Trump has sent a clear message today: Pedophiles deserve preferential treatment and their victims do not matter," the Giuffre family and Epstein's accusers said in a statement to Axios.
- "This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better."
The statement is attributed to Epstein accusers Annie Farmer and Maria Farmer, as well as Giuffre family members Sky and Amanda Roberts, and Lanette and Danny Wilson.
- The family and the accusers said they felt "horror and outrage" over the "preferential treatment" that Maxwell received by the transfer.
- "This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes," the statement reads. "The American public should be enraged by the preferential treatment being given to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender."
Flashback: The Giuffre family has recently criticized Trump for saying earlier this week that Epstein "stole" Giuffre from her job at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
- "She's not an object, she's a person," said Sky Roberts, Giuffre's brother, in an interview with NBC News that was published Thursday. "She wasn't stolen."
- Roberts told CNN in an interview Thursday evening: "She was preyed upon ... That's a predator that came and took her and did absolutely horrible things to her and so many other women."
Worth noting: The family also released a media statement Wednesday calling on Trump not to pardon Maxwell as some have suggested.
- "Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life," the family said.
- Trump has not flat-out denied a pardon. "I'm allowed to give her a pardon but nobody's approached me with it," he told reporters earlier this week, adding that it would be "inappropriate to talk about it."
Go deeper: What the Epstein documentaries tell us about his case
