Does Ghislaine Maxwell have ‘secret stash’ of Epstein sex tapes - and who could be implicated?

Ghislaine Maxwell kept a “secret stash” of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex tapes and plans to use the recordings as an “insurance policy to save herself”, a former friend has claimed.

Officials who raided Epstein’s Manhattan home following his arrest on sex trafficking charges in July last year found “thousands of graphic photos”, including images of underage girls, says the Daily Mail.

But an unnamed ex-confidant of Maxwell told the newspaper that the British socialite also “has copies of everything Epstein”.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“Ghislaine has always been as cunning as they come,” said the source. “She wasn’t going to be with Epstein all those years and not have some insurance.

“The secret stash of sex tapes I believe Ghislaine has squirrelled away could end up being her get out of jail card if the authorities are willing to trade.”

Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire last week and charged with six federal crimes, including enticement of minors, sex trafficking and perjury.

If she were to use any hidden sex tapes in a bid to bargain with prosecutors, “they could implicate some twisted movers and shakers”, the former friend reportedly claimed.

Speculation has been rife about the powerful individuals within Epstein’s circle, who included President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz and former Victoria’s Secret owner Leslie Wexner, according to The Guardian.

Specific allegations have been made by alleged victims linking the Duke of York and Dershowitz to the late convicted paedophile’s criminal activities with underage girls. Both men have denied the claims.

Maxwell’s ex-friend told the Daily Mail that “if Ghislaine goes down, she’s going to take the whole damn lot of them with her”, but declined to mention specific individuals.

The source added: “Not only did Epstein like to capture himself with underage girls on camera, he wanted to make sure he had something to hold over the rich and powerful men who took advantage of his sick largesse.”

That claim chimes with an account of an interview with Epstein that was published last August by The New York Times in the wake of his apparent suicide in a Manhattan prison.

The billionaire financier reportedly told journalist James B. Stewart during a conversation in 2018 that he held “potentially damaging or embarrassing” details about his inner circle, “including details about their supposed sexual proclivities and recreational drug use”.