Will Virginia Giuffre's book end all Ghislaine Maxwell's hopes of a Trump pardon?
Many believed Donald Trump was set to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell for collaborating with the Department of Justice, but will revelations in Virgina Giuffre’s autobiography mean that the convicted sex-trafficker remains behind bars for her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse?
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In brief…
- Virginia Giuffre’s new autobiography details the abuse she experienced at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, but it is Ghislaine Maxwell, who procured women for the financier, who she describes as an “apex predator”.
- The News Agents says the book, Nobody’s Girl, reveals that despite a lack of physical bars, the coercive control exerted by Epstein and Maxwell kept Giuffre imprisoned.
- They say that a rumoured pardon from Donald Trump now seems highly unlikely, given the strength of Giuffre’s allegations, despite Maxwell’s work to help extricate the president from The Epstein Files.
What’s the story?
In Virginia Giuffre's autobiography, published after her death by suicide earlier this year, she details the abuse she suffered at the hands of an "apex predator".
But the predator she describes wasn't Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender responsible for trafficking and abusing an unknown number of women and girls, it was Ghislaine Maxwell – his partner at the time, and the only person behind bars for crimes relating to Epstein.
In 2021, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison on sex trafficking charges.
In the book, Nobody's Girl, Giuffre describes Maxwell's role in creating Epstein's "web of paedophilia".
"Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were less boyfriend and girlfriend, but more, in Virginia's words, 'two wicked halves of the same whole'," says Emily Maitlis, after reading the autobiography.
It details how Maxwell would reassure the women when they questioned some of the acts they were expected to perform for Epstein and his clients. She would also persuade victims that they were "overthinking" the situation.
"There was a woman involved with a posh voice, with a friendly manner, with beautifully manicured hands, who made it all seem normal," Emily adds.
Ghislaine Maxwell's ties to Jeffrey Epstein
The precise nature of Maxwell's relationship with Epstein is unclear. Their relationship began as a romance in 1994, but Maxwell later took more of a business-like role alongside the disgraced financier.
But by 1999, she was recruiting young women to provide sexual services for Epstein, including a 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who filed a defamation lawsuit against Maxwell in 2015 after she called Giuffre a liar for naming Maxwell as the person who trafficked her.
"Maxwell plays an absolutely pivotal part in breaking down the defences that Virginia Giuffre would have naturally had as a young woman," says Emily.
"It is Maxwell and Epstein that abuse her. It is Maxwell and Epstein that want to play 'sex games' – but it's not sex games, it's abuse and it's rape."
The book also details how Maxwell was involved in some of the sexual abuse Giuffre experienced.
"There were no bars on the windows, there was no prison, but she was absolutely trapped by the coercive control exerted by both Ghislaine Maxwell and by Epstein himself," Jon Sopel adds.
What the Virginia Giuffre book means for Ghislaine Maxwell's pardon hopes
In the summer of 2025 Maxwell was moved to a new minimum security prison in Texas, weeks after meeting with Donald Trump's deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche.
The meeting came as the president was trying desperately to distance himself from The Epstein Files, which he had previously promised to make public, amid rumours that he himself would be a key figure in these allegedly incriminating documents.
After speaking with the Department of Justice, Maxwell said she was unaware of the existence of any such documents, and said she had never witnessed any inappropriate behaviour from Trump while with Epstein.
It sparked rumours that Trump, who was close friends with Epstein and had spent time with Maxwell, was considering a pardon for her collaboration with government officials.
In July 2025, New York criminal defence lawyer Randy Zelin told The News Agents that Maxwell wanted to get out of jail – and didn't care what she had to do or say to make that happen.
The voracity of Giuffre's new, posthumous allegations against Maxwell, may mean that one of her final acts is to make sure her "apex predator" abuser remains behind bars.
"There are a lot of people who, up to this point, fell into the school of thought that these were men's crimes, and one woman is paying the price for it," says Emily.
"In Virginia Giuffre's account, what becomes much clearer is just how culpable Ghislaine Maxwell was.
"This idea that Trump would somehow find a pardon for Maxwell, because she said nice things to Todd Blanche in her testimony, I think will become a lot harder once people digest Virginia Giuffre's words this week."