Truth about Epstein’s client list, how he paid someone to murder him, the suspicious object found in his cell and why my sister will be free soon: Explosive interview with Ghislaine’s brother IAN MAXWELL

The imposing gates of the Federal Correctional Institute in Florida that houses Ghislaine Maxwell – convicted sex trafficker and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein – are normally a hive of activity.

Prison guards sign on and off their shifts, people arrive from all over the country to visit incarcerated friends and relatives and deliveries of what everyone says is ‘atrocious’ prison food arrive in vans.

But the ramshackle 1930s detention centre in Tallahassee is currently on lockdown, for reasons unknown, and Maxwell, 63, is one of hundreds of inmates stuck in their cells for extended periods, sometimes up to 23 hours a day.

She won’t yet know, therefore, that the scandal which led to her being jailed for 20 years, and ruined Prince Andrew, is roaring back to life again, this time with Donald Trump in its sights.

A highly embarrassing article appeared in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, reporting that President Trump contributed a tawdry drawing of a naked woman to a birthday album put together for convicted paedophile Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003. It was accompanied by a letter that said: ‘May every day be another wonderful secret’, according to the report.

If they are the President’s words – and Trump was quick to say they most definitely weren’t – the phrasing, and timing, couldn’t be more apposite. Could they have anything to do with the apparent scuppering of Maxwell’s latest attempt to clear her name and overturn her prison sentence, imposed in 2022, for conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls?

Speaking exclusively to the Mail yesterday, her brother Ian Maxwell, 68, insists they are not. He has no idea ‘who put it out there’.

‘It’s a salacious and interesting story, but it has nothing to do with my sister’s case,’ Ian says. ‘I don’t see any reference in this so-called birthday book to minors and abuse.

 ‘Obviously, I haven’t had the chance to discuss it with Ghislaine yet, but I’ve never heard of this book’s existence before now.’

His sister, he assures us, remains focused on securing her freedom, and staying positive, despite a sizeable setback this week. US Solicitor-General D John Sauer has urged the country’s Supreme Court to reject a pending review of Maxwell’s conviction which was brought on the grounds that she was protected by a non-prosecution agreement Epstein struck with prosecutors in Florida in 2008.

When Jeffrey Epstein first faced charges of procuring underage girls for prostitution, and got eight months in jail, there was a document submitted by the Department of Justice which said if he pleaded guilty, neither he nor anyone who would be considered a co-conspirator or accomplice would be charged.

Maxwell, her defence team argues, should have been covered by that and should not have been charged.

Ian Maxwell, however, sees the court’s intransigence as a positive – and most definitely not politically motivated.

‘It’s not really surprising that the [US] government has indicated that they wish to oppose it – it signals that they are in trouble and that Ghislaine’s case is legitimate,’ the British businessman says.

‘The government is guilty of serious misconduct, withholding exculpatory material and not honouring the non-prosecution agreement. What happened to Ghislaine is fundamentally wrong and unfair and she should never have gone on trial, let alone been banged up in prison.’

Of the regular video and telephone calls he and his siblings share with their sister, Ian says: ‘If she’s downhearted, she hides it well. She’s energised, her spirit is undimmed and she is pursuing her appeal with vigour.

‘She called a few days ago but it was midnight and I missed the call. I emailed her to apologise and she said she understood but had queued for three hours to make the call.’

All this, of course, is unlikely to cut much ice with the dozens of girls and young women who were victims of the sex-trafficking ring orchestrated by multi-millionaire Epstein.

The most prominent was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein and Maxwell of trafficking her, aged 16, under the guise of being a massage therapist, and later being paid to have sex with Prince Andrew – something he has vehemently denied.

Giuffre, who reached an out-of-court settlement with the prince in 2022, committed suicide in Australia in April, amid allegations of domestic abuse.

Ian remains convinced her lies brought down his sister. ‘Hers was a life book-ended by lies. Early on when she was 17 or 18, she accused two young men of rape and it went to trial and the jury didn’t believe her. That was an early example of Virginia Giuffre lying about events.

‘Virginia Giuffre was the best known and most vociferous accuser of my sister, but she wasn’t put forward as a witness at Ghislaine’s trial. Had prosecutors believed her, they would surely have put her on the stand and they didn’t, because they knew full well that the defence would have cut her to pieces.’

Clearly a supporter of Andrew, Ian says he believes the royal’s assertion of not recollecting meeting Virginia or having sexual relations with her.

‘Had it been left to him, he would have pushed it all the way right up to court and Virginia Giuffre would have backed down. He didn’t because the late Queen, in her jubilee year, basically told him to fold his tent – or senior courtiers did. He was a loyal son and the prince did the right thing at great personal expense because he has been well and truly cancelled.’

In the years that followed, there has been speculation of the existence of a client list – a black book of the rich and powerful who were somehow compromised by Epstein.

What – and most importantly, who – is in it, who controls it and if it will ever be released, remains a sword of Damacles hanging over the Trump administration.

Trump and Epstein spent time together in the 1990s and early 2000s, and were photographed at social events, including with Maxwell and Melania Trump. The President maintains their friendship ended well before Epstein was jailed, and registered as a sex offender, in 2008.

Referring to the ‘black book’, Ian says: ‘It’s always been my sister’s position that no such thing exists. Nobody’s going to write down a list of people he’s blackmailing.

‘Epstein’s life was highly compartmentalised and Ghislaine often didn’t know where he was or what he was doing.

‘There were times when Ghislaine was hoping they’d do something together at the weekend and he’d just disappear. That led her to the conclusion that there was never going to be any kind of significant relationship between the two of them and they moved on to a professional relationship where she would help with domestic matters like looking after his houses.’

Ian says he met Epstein briefly and ‘didn’t warm to him’.

‘He was highly intelligent but he had a dark kind of charisma,’ he recalls. ‘He was an aggressive listener but I felt that he was seeking only to extract information that could be helpful to him.

‘I felt this was someone Ghislaine should stay away from. Ghislaine has often said she wishes she had never met Epstein.’

And his thoughts on Elon Musk who is among those who believe the client lists exist?

‘He’s just a gadfly who encourages this wild goose chase.

‘The dynamic between Musk and Trump is a complex one. They’re the kind of men who don’t throw pebbles, they throw rocks.’ The US Department of Justice and the FBI have concluded that Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell in 2019, but Ian has his own startling theory as to how he met his death.

‘I think the jury is legitimately out on this one,’ he says. ‘The government’s immediate investigation of Epstein’s death was cursory and frankly sloppy.

‘Ghislaine believes he was murdered and certainly there were murderers on the wing of the prison where Epstein was held.

‘I’ve always been interested in the strange object [found in Epstein’s cell] that was wire flex from a CPAC machine [that helps a person breathe]. That seems to be an obvious ligature and at least two unconnected and non-partisan forensic pathologists have supported the opinion of the Epstein family’s forensic pathologist that the injuries to Epstein were more consistent with homicide rather than strangulation.’

Ian believes the financier could have paid someone to kill him – murder by commission: ‘It’s a theory that can’t be discounted.’

Amid mounting suspicions that there has been a cover-up in the Epstein case, infuriating some of Trump’s MAGA supporters who say it shows that the elite are always protected, there have been suggestions from at least two Republican senators that Maxwell might be called upon to testify before Congress.

Ian dismisses the suggestion, at least for now. ‘Ghislaine is concentrating on her legal case and has no plans to do so,’ he says. ‘I don’t believe there has been any formal request about that.’

Protective of his little sister, he admits he worries about her daily.

‘There’s such overcrowding in Tallahassee that higher-category prisoners are being placed there and its becoming a facility that is more dangerous – we’ve got to get her out of there.

‘Normally she spends a lot of time in the prison library helping other prisoners with things like form filling but she has to go from A to B and isn’t always surrounded by guards.

‘It’s a possibility someone might get to her. I don’t want to be dramatic but you can’t discount it. Look what happened to Epstein.’

Ian knows the chances of the Supreme Court hearing his sister’s case is slight. ‘It’s not a done deal,’ he says. ‘About 10,000 petitions are lodged each year and they only hear 200 to 250 cases.

‘But if they don’t hear Ghislaine’s case… we will go another route and file a writ of habeas corpus which allows a prisoner to challenge their imprisonment on the basis of new evidence, such as government misconduct.’

He believes his sister was made a scapegoat and harshly punished to satisfy public outrage about Epstein avoiding justice.

‘I fully believe my sister is innocent and that she will be released some day in the future.’

What happens after that is something only Ghislaine Maxwell knows.