Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother accuses prison guards of ‘physical abuse’ as she awaits trial
The brother of Ghislaine Maxwell has told Sky News he believes prison officers have “physically abused” his sister and her treatment in a New York jail is a “fundamental abuse of human rights” that is “designed to break her”.
In his first UK TV interview, Ian Maxwell said US authorities have mounted a “disinformation campaign” against her.
He also raised concerns over whether she would receive a fair trial.
(L) Ghislaine Maxwell in 2014. In April this year, a photo of her with a ‘black eye’ was released by her lawyer
The British socialite and former girlfriend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, which she denies. She is accused of procuring teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.
In April, Ms Maxwell‘s lawyers released an image which appeared to show her with a black eye.
“I don’t see Ghislaine administering a black eye to herself,” Mr Maxwell said. “I think she has suffered some occasional physical abuse at the hands of her guards. Yes.”
Mr Maxwell also suggested his family would mount a legal challenge under human rights legislation.
“We are going to take it to the UN,” he said. “Take it from me. America has to be held to account, and it will be.”
A spokesperson for the US Federal Bureau of Prisons said: “We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public.
Ghislaine Maxwell has not been seen in public for weeks
“The BOP takes allegations of staff misconduct seriously and consistent with national policy, refers all allegations for investigation, if warranted.”
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, took his own life in jail in 2019. He was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Maxwell was a former girlfriend and friend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019. Pic: Sky UK
Mr Maxwell believes Epstein’s death was a failure of the US judicial system, and his sister is now being blamed.
He said: “There has just simply been a transference of presumed guilt on the part of Jeffrey Epstein without any corroborating evidence. Just simply because she had a relationship.
“He then dies, and they’ve got to find someone to pay the price.”
Ian Maxwell, brother of Ghislaine Maxwell, speaks to Sky News
Mr Maxwell believes the US authorities are responsible for a “disinformation campaign” against his sister.
“We start with a press conference designed to be prejudicial,” he said. “And then we have for the last two or three years a whole plethora of news programmes, documentaries and so forth, which are entirely one-sided.
“There isn’t any possible other way of viewing this, other than the way the accusers have set it up, and their attorneys, and that strikes me as a campaign designed to prejudice my sister in the eyes of the public.”
The Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have previously claimed their client has lost hair and over 15 pounds in body weight during her incarceration.
Mr Maxwell believes his sister’s treatment in prison has made it more difficult to prepare her defence, and questioned how Harvey Weinstein, Derek Chauvin and Bernie Madoff could all be granted bail pre-trial, yet his sister’s applications be repeatedly denied.
“It’s designed to break her,” he said. “That is just unjust. It is a fundamental abuse of human rights. And I find that quite shocking.”
“And I think that your viewers, if they are honest, should also find it shocking. Imagine if it was their mother or their sister or their daughter in the same position as my sister. You don’t think you’d kick up a hell of a fuss about it?”
A US federal judge has repeatedly ruled Ghislaine Maxwell poses a flight risk. Prosecutors cited her citizenship in three countries and significant wealth as factors as why bail should be refused.
With one month until Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, her brother believes her reputation has been “comprehensively trashed” and is concerned she may not receive a fair trial.
“In the court of public opinion…. it seems to me that Ghislaine has already been convicted and the punishment that she is having meted out to her in prison as a pre-trial detainee is precisely what it is. Punishment prior to conviction.
“You are innocent unless and until you are proven guilty.
“But the mountain of allegations made against it and broadcasted and loud hailered around the world is so great, that I have to really ask myself, are we going to get a fair trial?”
Mr Maxwell said he has not spoken to his sister since her arrest, and he would be “shocked” if she was found guilty, but said she would likely appeal.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in New York. Pic: Patrick McMullan 1995/Sky UK
Jill Greenfield, a lawyer who represents some of Epstein’s alleged victims in the UK, said she had confidence in the US legal system and the trial was a vital opportunity for Ms Maxwell’s accusers.
“I think any alleged victim of a sexual assault will very painfully recount their memories of what happened to them.
“But by doing so they speak openly about something where they were, as they see themselves, a victim.
“And I think that can be quite cathartic for that alleged victim and [an] important part of the process to recovery.
“Standing up to an accuser in any sense is a really hard thing for someone to do and to be given and enabled to do that, through a court process, is really important.”
Ghislaine Maxwell is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Her trial is due to begin on 29 November.
A cargo plane has crashed near an airport in Kentucky.
Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) say officers are attending the scene of the accident near Louisville International Airport.
The force added: “LMPD and multiple other agencies are responding to reports of a plane crash near Fern Valley and Grade Lane.
“Grade Lane will be closed indefinitely between Stooges and Crittenden. Injuries reported.”
UPS said it has been notified of an incident involving one of its aircraft. In a statement on its website, the company said three people were on board.
A fireball erupts near airport property after reports of a plane crash at Louisville International Airport, Kentucky. Pic: Jon Cherry / AP
Pic: Brad Harvey / AP
Pic: Jon Cherry / AP
A shelter-in-place order was also issued within five miles of the Kentucky airport, which is also home to UPS Worldport, the delivery firm’s largest package handling facility in the world.
The airport said that all arriving and departing flights are temporarily suspended, that the airfield is closed, and warned passengers should closely monitor their flights.
The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said the crash happened around 5.15pm local time (10.15pm UK time) as the plane left the airport, bound for Honolulu in Hawaii.
It added that the aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 plane, primarily used by cargo airlines.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear added on social media: “First responders are onsite, and we will share more information as available.
“Please pray for the pilots, crew and everyone affected. We will share more soon.”
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Former US vice president Dick Cheney has died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family has said.
In a statement, his family said the 84-year-old was surrounded by his wife Lynne, daughters Liz and Mary, and other family members.
The Republican was one of the most polarising vice presidents in US history under George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, and was a leading advocate of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Dick Cheney with George W Bush. Pic: Reuters
In later life, he became a target of Donald Trump, especially after his daughter, Liz Cheney, became the leading Republican critic and examiner of Mr Trump’s actions surrounding the January 6 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Mr Cheney said in a TV advert for his daughter.
“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward.”
Dick Cheney looks on as his daughter Liz Cheney takes the oath of office in 2017. Pic: AP
Last year he said he was voting for Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, to be president against Mr Trump.
Mr Cheney survived five heart attacks and declared in 2013 he woke up each morning “with a smile on my face, thankful for the gift of another day”.
Pic: Reuters
His family’s statement said: “For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing.
“We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country.
“And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
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US
Zohran Mamdani: ‘Trump’s worst nightmare’ could be about to show how to take the fight to the president
Zohran Mamdani calls himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare”. They are the words of a man living the dream.
It’s because the 34-year-old is the headline act in Tuesday’s referendum on Trump 2.0. A statement night in US politics, as Americans – some, at least – deliver a verdict on what they’ve seen so far.
Of four electoral contests across the US – including in California, New Jersey and Virginia – the race to be New York mayor is the most compulsive and consequential.
The polls have Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, as the frontrunner. If he wins, it would signify big change in the Big Apple.
Read more: Who is Zohran Mamdani?
Pics: AP
Born in Uganda to Indian parents (he moved to the US aged seven), Mamdani would become New York’s first Muslim mayor.
He is a democratic socialist whose supporters will see victory as laying down a template for taking on Trump, even if the party’s old guard is sceptical.
An effective campaign has focused on the costs and quality of life in New York, promising universal childcare, a rent freeze, free bus travel and grocery shops run by the city.
Progressives Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed Mamdani. Pic: Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
So why is he controversial?
The message has resonated with New Yorkers squeezed on affordability, but his payment plan is open to question.
Mamdani plans to raise $9bn by raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, but he would face a struggle to gain the necessary consent of the New York State legislature and governor.
Mamdani’s politics are pegged to the “progressive” left wing of his party, and his campaign success plays into the Democrats’ quandary around a longer-term comeback strategy.
The politics that succeed in New York don’t necessarily resonate nationwide, and a party establishment has been reluctant to embrace Mamdani.
Democrat Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, has declined to endorse him at all.
Party management aside, he won’t have been impressed when Mamdani was arrested outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home as part of a 2023 protest calling for a ceasefire following Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel.
Mamdani has been a staunch critic of Israel and, in the past, has advocated defunding the police, decriminalising prostitution and closing New York City jails.
Mamdani was at the White House to announce a hunger strike demanding a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Gaza in November 2023. Pic: AP
His background and Islamic faith are threaded through opposition attacks. He has been criticised for refusing to denounce the phrase “globalise the intifada”, used by pro-Palestinian activists.
Subsequently, he said he would “discourage” the term and would combat antisemitism through actions as well as words.
It hasn’t stopped his Republican rival, Curtis Sliwa, claiming Mamdani supported “global jihad”.
Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, has labelled him “the most divisive candidate I have ever experienced in New York”.
Andrew Cuomo. Pic: AP
Trump gives Cuomo an endorsement – of sorts
Cuomo, the former New York governor who resigned over sexual harassment allegations, is Mamdani’s closest contender who has received support – of sorts – from Trump.
The president, who falsely labels Mamdani a communist, said on Truth Social on the eve of the election: “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice.
“You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
At a rally the same night, Mamdani fired back to say: “The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him.
“Not the best mayor for New York City, not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The Republican spin on the prospect of a Mamdani victory is that it would reflect a move towards radical extremism by the Democratic Party.
Trump has even suggested he may withhold federal funds from New York if Mamdani wins.
In time, Democrats would need to interpret and apply the lessons of a Mamdani victory. But more than anything else, they need a win to feel a pulse in a party undergoing an identity crisis.
Read more from Sky News:
Corbyn reveals how many people have joined Your Party
Why millions of Britons are off work long-term sick
What tax rises could Rachel Reeves announce?
During the primaries, Mamdani held a news conference outside Cuomo’s apartment in March. Pic: zz/Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx
One battle after another
The same applies to Tuesday contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, fascinating in terms of the vote winners and vote breakdown.
What will be the verdict, nine months in, of people who turned to Trump at the last election? Will he hold onto the Latino vote, given his immigration policy, ICE raids, and other orders?
In California, Tuesday sees a redistricting vote to counter Republican gerrymandering elsewhere. If backed by the public, the plan will increase the number of winnable Democratic seats in the House of Representatives.
Read more: The controversial tactic both parties are using ahead of midterms
It is the initiative of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
If he wins the day, his party will be enhanced and so will he, as the potential party nominee for president come the election in 2028.
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