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Ghislaine Maxwell Claims Photo Of Virginia Guiffre, Prince Andrew Is a Fake
In a new interview with the British show "TalkTV" airing Monday, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell claims the photo showing victim Virginia Giuffre with her and the prince "looks like it has been Photoshopped."
Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell claims in a new interview with a British outlet that she believes an infamous photograph of one of her ex-partner Jeffrey Epstein's victims and a member of the British royal family is a fake.
Maxwell, 61, is currently serving a 20-year sentence at the low-security Federal Corrections Institute - Tallahassee after having been convicted on sex trafficking charges in December 2021. Prosecutors successfully argued that she conspired with her ex-partner, Jeffrey Epstein — who died by suicide in federal custody on sex trafficking charges in August 2019 — to recruit teenage girls for sexual abuse from 1994 until 2004.
Maxwell is currently appealing her conviction and sentencing, CNN reported. She and her brother were sued by her original defense lawyers for $1 million in allegedly unpaid legal bills in August. She hired disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's appeals lawyer Arthur L. Aidala to proceed with her appeal in January, Page Six reported.
Though neither Maxwell nor Epstein was charged in her case, Virginia Giuffre, 39, has long been one of the pair's most outspoken accusers. She sued Epstein, claiming she was “continually exploited to satisfy defendant's [Epstein] every sexual whim” and “required to be sexually exploited by defendant's adult male peers, including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen and or other professional and personal acquaintances." She reached a reported $500,000 settlement with him in 2009.
In 2021, Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in federal court, alleging that he had sexually abused her on three different occasions: once at Maxwell's London home; a second time at Epstein's New York City mansion; and a third time on Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Accompanying the lawsuit was a photograph allegedly taken of Giuffre, the prince and Maxwell at her London home around the time of the abuse.
Giuffre and Prince Andrew settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed amount in February 2021, though he didn't admit to any guilt.
"Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks,” a statement announcing the settlement read. “Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”
The Sun reported that he is currently trying to retract the settlement.
In a jailhouse interview set to be broadcast in the U.K. on TalkTV, Maxwell told the interviewer that she believes the photo was faked.
“I have no memory of them meeting. And I don’t think that picture is real," she said, according to The Sun. "I don’t remember her in my home."
“There is no original of that photo, [just] copies of copies," she added. "And parts of it, according to some experts, look like it has been Photoshopped."
Still, she didn't completely deny the possibility that Giuffre had been abused by the royal.
"I know that Virginia travelled with Jeffrey, and so it’s entirely possible," she told TalkTV. “It wasn’t something so outrageously out of left field that it couldn’t have happened."
"But the photo doesn’t appear to be real," she insisted. "And I don’t recall it being taken. I have no memory of Virginia and Prince Andrew meeting.”
It is unclear from the pre-broadcast transcripts provided to The Sun what, if any, evidence Maxwell has to back up her accusations that the photo was faked.
