Controversial British broadcaster Piers Morgan has suggested that Ghislaine Maxwell may testify against her rich and powerful contacts to dodge a stiff jail sentence. But Morgan, commenters pointed out, may too be among them.
“Will vile sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell now sing like a canary to avoid spending the rest of her life in prison?” Morgan tweeted on Wednesday night. “If she does, there could be a lot of rich, powerful & famous people sweating tonight ... and not sweating.”
The latter remark came as an apparent tongue-in-cheek reference to Prince Andrew, who is accused of sexually abusing a child, and once claimed in a bizarre interview that he doesn’t sweat.
Maxwell, who is now awaiting sentencing in New York, was a long-time friend and romantic partner of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, whose death in jail in 2019 was deemed a suicide by authorities. On Wednesday, a jury found the 60-year-old British socialite and alleged “madam” guilty of five sex crimes involving the trafficking of underage girls or conspiring to do so. Some of these women claim they were abused by both Epstein and Maxwell at the former’s luxury properties.
Epstein and Maxwell rubbed shoulders with the elite on both sides of the Atlantic. Bill Clinton, for example, flew aboard Epstein’s private jet – nicknamed the ‘Lolita Express’ – 26 times, and the aforementioned Prince Andrew visited Epstein at his Manhattan mansion.
Yet Morgan himself also schmoozed with Maxwell before. Commenters on Twitter posted photos of the contrarian broadcaster laughing with Maxwell at a party, as well as shots of Morgan socializing with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and celebrity pedophiles Gary Glitter, Rolf Harris, and Max Clifford.
Morgan has previously described these photos as “unedifying,” and joked that he needs “to work on [his] clairvoyant skills.”
Should Maxwell stay quiet, the true extent of her and Epstein’s network may never be known. Following a deal between prosecutors and her legal team earlier this month, Maxwell’s so-called “little black book” of contacts will remain sealed by court order. However, a copy of Epstein’s address book has ended up online before, and contained details for Donald Trump, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, actors Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey, several members of the Kennedy family, Peter Soros, and several dozen “massage” providers, among others.
As it stands, Maxwell may die in prison, with the five charges she was convicted of carrying a combined maximum sentence of up to 65 years. She is expected to appeal her conviction.