Ian Maxwell, the brother of Ghislaine Maxwell, says his sister will not aid prosecutors following her conviction on sex crime charges involving underage girls.
Ghislaine Maxwell's brother says his sister was a "scapegoat" for the sexual abuse crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and that he doubts she will now cooperate prosecutors in exchanged for a lighter sentence.
The British former socialite was convicted earlier this week of procuring underage girls to be sexually abused by the disgraced financier, who killed himself in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on sex crime charges in 2019.
"I accept that these accusers were victims of Jeffrey Epstein. What I do not accept is that they were victims of Ghislaine Maxwell," the 65-year-old elder brother of Maxwell told Sky News Friday.
Ian Maxwell has given several interviews since his sister's conviction, claiming she had nothing to do with Epstein's abuse of girls as young as 14.
"She was scapegoated in a process that was flawed from the start and she was not given a fair trial and she has not had justice," he said. Her family has said they will appeal Wednesday's ruling.
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty on five of six charges asserting she trafficked young girls for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004. Four women testified that Maxwell recruited and groomed them for Epstein's pleasure.
The girls were trained to perform "so-called massages" that evolved into sexual abuse, prosecutors said at Maxwell's trial. By deluging the girls with gifts, money and personal praise, Maxwell and Epstein were able to portray the abuse as something “casual and normal," prosecutors said.
Maxwell's family has steadfastly claimed she was not guilty of wrongdoing in her relationship with Epstein. Ghislaine was once romantically involved with the financier, who hobnobbed with celebrities, royalty and politicians including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. One accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has filed a civil suit against Prince Andrew, alleging she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with his friends, including the prince, and that the prince knew she was 17 at the time.
Andrew has repeatedly denied the accusations and has said he does not know Giuffre.
Ian Maxwell said his sister had "without doubt" made "a terrible, terrible judgement about Jeffrey Epstein," but added, "That is not a crime".
He said she "must obviously profoundly regret that relationship."
The Maxwells are a prominent British family. Patriarch Robert Maxwell was a media mogul and former member of Parliament whose mysterious death in 1991 sparked conspiracy theories and speculation that the controversial businessman had been murdered, a claim that Ghislaine publicly said she believed.
Her brother downplayed talk that she would now help prosecutors by naming names of those who allegedly participated in Epstein's abuse of young girls, a process known as "flipping."
"We know, because the prosecution has said, that they have never made her any offer and she has never made them any offer," he said.
"I don't think that's going to change. I don't know what Ghislaine has to say about anyone else. Her position is that she did not participate or was aware of these terrible activities.
"So her logical position must be that's to be continued, and therefore why is she suddenly going to start producing names and who knows what? So I don't think that's going to happen," he said.
