Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite convicted for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex-trafficking operation, was quietly removed late Thursday from the Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, in northern Florida, and is now at a minimum security prison in Texas. The move followed Ms. Maxwell sitting for two days of questioning last week from a top Department of Justice official.

“We can confirm, Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,” a BOP spokesman tells the Sun. 

A source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Sun that Ms. Maxwell was temporarily moved to FCI Oakdale in Louisiana prior to her move to  Texas.

“She is not staying in Oakdale,” the source said while the transfer was under way. “It was a brief stopover. Officials from Texas were expected to take custody of her shortly after the handoff, and she is being moved again to an undisclosed location.”

Her unusual transfer, the source says, was handled by BOP officials themselves — rather than by the U.S. Marshals Service, which typically oversees interstate inmate transport.  

Reached Friday morning, an attorney for Ms. Maxwell, David Oscar Markus, confirmed the moved but declined to comment further.

The move to Texas could be an improvement in Ms. Maxwell’s living conditions. FCP Bryan is a minimum security prison. FCI Tallahassee, where Ms. Maxwell had been incarcerated, is a low security prison, where there are fences, more restrictions, more guards, and a wider range of prisoners. Convicted sex offenders like Ms. Maxwell are rarely housed at minimum security prisons.

Ms. Maxwell met in Florida over two days last week with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, during which, according to her attorneys, she answered questions about her knowledge of Epstein’s activities. The meeting came among fevered public interest in the Epstein case, and pressure on the Trump administration to release everything the government knows about the late financier. Epstein, an ultra-wealthy financier who for decades cultivated friendships with wealthy and powerful men in New York and Palm Beach, was arrested in 2019 and indicted by federal prosecutors in New York for sex trafficking. He died that year in his jail cell. A coroner has ruled his death a suicide. 

Ms. Maxwell was close with Epstein for decades. Her attorneys are believed to be seeking a pardon or commutation from President Trump in exchange for her cooperation.

After Epstein’s death, Ms. Maxwell, 63, was convicted in December 2021 on five federal counts related to the recruitment and grooming of young women, some underage, for Epstein’s sexual gratification. In June 2022, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She has been pursuing an appeal based in part on her assertion that Epstein’s 2008 plea deal with the federal government — in which he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution — should have shielded her from prosecution. 

Epstein’s 2019 federal indictment by the Southern District of New York was controversial due to the 2008 plea agreement with the then-U.S. attorney in South Florida, which Epstein’s legal team said applied to all federal jurisdictions. Had he not died, this would have been central to his defense. Legal analysts tell the Sun that Ms. Maxwell has a colorable case in her appeal, which gives her some leverage in negotiations.