Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Dual Sovereignty: The Legal Sledgehammer Waiting for Ghislaine Maxwell If Pardoned (Part 1)

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Dual Sovereignty: The Legal Sledgehammer Waiting for Ghislaine Maxwell If Pardoned (Part 1) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Imagine this. You wake up one morning and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: check your phone, your laptop, the TV, doesn't matter, it's everywhere.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: The headlines are blazing. Ghislaine Maxwell has been pardoned. Not
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  Speaker 1: released early, not exonerated, pardoned. As in, forgiven. As in
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  Speaker 1: the crime she was convicted of in open court, crimes
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  Speaker 1: involving the trafficking and abuse of underage girls, with and
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of a billionaire predator, wiped away with the
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  Speaker 1: flick of a pen, not by a jury, not by
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  Speaker 1: a judge, but by a politician. And just like that,
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  Speaker 1: the woman who helped orchestrate one of the most vile,
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  Speaker 1: elite-fueled sex trafficking rings in modern history walks out of
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  Speaker 1: prison with her chin high, her sentence vanished, her record wiped.
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  Speaker 1: Not because she deserved mercy, but because someone with power
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  Speaker 1: decided she was useful, or inconvenient, or owed. Now picture
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  Speaker 1: the reaction. The talking heads jump to their scripts. The
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  Speaker 1: legal pundits shrug and sigh, calling it controversial but constitutional.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: The social media war starts spinning its wheels again, one
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  Speaker 1: side screaming that it's a travesty, the other saying it's
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  Speaker 1: all overblown ancient history. And through it all, the survivors,
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  Speaker 1: they're forced to watch helpless as a woman who recruited them,
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  Speaker 1: groomed them, gaslit them, abused them, is treated like some
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  Speaker 1: misunderstood socialite who got a little too close to the fire. But,
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  Speaker 1: Here's the thing, and it's why we're here today. It's
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  Speaker 1: why this episode has to exist. Because that pardon, it
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  Speaker 1: might close the door on the federal case, but it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't seal the tomb. Not in New York. Because Ghislaine
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell didn't just traffic girls through private jets and hidden islands.
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  Speaker 1: She did it in broad daylight, in a mansion in Manhattan,
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  Speaker 1: in a jurisdiction that still has the power, the tools,
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  Speaker 1: and the legal standing to hold her accountable, right here,
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  Speaker 1: right now. And that's what this episode's about. Today we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about New York state law, the timeline
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of her crimes, and the very real path prosecutors could
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  Speaker 1: take to charge her again. And we'll show you that
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  Speaker 1: this isn't just legally possible, but morally necessary. Because if
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  Speaker 1: New York doesn't act, if they sit back and let
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  Speaker 1: that pardon become the last word, then the message is clear.
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  Speaker 1: Justice in America is negotiable. Survivors are expendable. And the powerful,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how monstrous their crimes, always find a back door.
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  Speaker 1: But if New York does act, if the district attorney
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  Speaker 1: and attorney general and so-called defenders of justice actually stand
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  Speaker 1: up and file charges, then maybe, just maybe, there's still
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  Speaker 1: a reason to believe in accountability. In consequence, in law
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  Speaker 1: that applies upward, not just downward. Because if the Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: case is allowed to end with a shrug, a signature,
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  Speaker 1: and a smile, then it's not just her walking free.
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  Speaker 1: It's the whole damn system telling us who it really protects. So,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about it. If Donald Trump issues a pardon
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  Speaker 1: for Ghislaine Maxwell, clearing her of her federal sex trafficking conviction,
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  Speaker 1: that act would not place her beyond the reach of justice.
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  Speaker 1: A presidential pardon only applies to violations of federal law,
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  Speaker 1: not to state statutes. In the United States, under the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of dual sovereignty, state governments and the federal government
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  Speaker 1: operate as separate legal entities. This means that New York State,
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  Speaker 1: if it had sufficient jurisdiction and legal grounds, could still
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  Speaker 1: bring its own charges against Maxwell independent of any presidential intervention.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Glenn Maxwell's crimes were not confined to an anonymous international
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  Speaker 1: hotel or secluded offshore islands. According to victim testimony and
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  Speaker 1: trial documents, some of the most egregious abuse took place
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  Speaker 1: in Epstein's Manhattan townhouse at 9 East 71st Street. This location,
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  Speaker 1: deep within the heart of New York City, puts much
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  Speaker 1: of Maxwell's conduct squarely under the jurisdiction of New York
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  Speaker 1: state criminal law. Victims testified that they were recruited, groomed,
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  Speaker 1: and sexually abused at that location, often while underage. These
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  Speaker 1: acts weren't just morally reprehensible, they constituted potential violations of
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  Speaker 1: multiple New York criminal statutes. The New York Penal Law
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  Speaker 1: includes provisions that directly overlap with Maxwell's known behavior. For example,
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  Speaker 1: Section 230.34 covers sex trafficking of a child and does
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  Speaker 1: not require physical sexual contact with by the trafficker, only
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  Speaker 1: that they caused or facilitated the exploitation of a minor.
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell arranged travel, paid victims, and normalized the abuse, and
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  Speaker 1: took part of it herself, all of which could be
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  Speaker 1: construed as facilitation. Moreover, under 260.10, the endangering the welfare
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  Speaker 1: of a child statute could be invoked, particularly given the
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  Speaker 1: age of some victims and the repeated exposure to sexually
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  Speaker 1: abusive environments. Additionally, Maxwell could face prosecution under Section 130,
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  Speaker 1: which addresses criminal sexual acts. Even if Maxwell herself didn't
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  Speaker 1: commit every act of abuse, New York law allows for
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  Speaker 1: charges when someone aids or abets a sexual offense against
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  Speaker 1: a minor. Her coordination of travel, coaching of victims on
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  Speaker 1: how to please Epstein, and normalization of abusive behavior could
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  Speaker 1: easily meet the state's legal threshold. And because many of
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  Speaker 1: these crimes happen repeatedly at a single location in Manhattan,
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  Speaker 1: Jurisdiction isn't vague. It's crystal clear. One of the major
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  Speaker 1: concerns in a case like this is the statute of limitations.
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  Speaker 1: How long prosecutors have to bring charges. In New York, however,
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  Speaker 1: the legislature has carved out specific exceptions for crimes involving minors.
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  Speaker 1: For instance, Class A felonies, which include major sex crimes,
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  Speaker 1: have no statute of limitation. And even for lower-level offenses,
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  Speaker 1: New York has extended the window through reforms like Child
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  Speaker 1: Victims Act 2019 and Adult Survivors Act, which reflected a
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  Speaker 1: broader effort by the state to correct historic injustices that
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  Speaker 1: were previously shielded by outdated laws. Maxwell's known history is
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  Speaker 1: intertwined with conduct that would be prosecutable at the state level.
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  Speaker 1: The grooming of girls sometimes as young as 14 for
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  Speaker 1: sexual abuse in Epstein's New York home involved extensive logistical coordination, payments, transportation,
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  Speaker 1: threats of retaliation, and psychological coercion. That conduct doesn't need
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  Speaker 1: to meet a federal threshold to be criminal. State prosecutors,
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  Speaker 1: especially in Manhattan, where the abuse occurred, would have standing
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  Speaker 1: to charge her independently based on those acts alone. A
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  Speaker 1: federal pardon wouldn't obstruct the process in the slightest. Politically,
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  Speaker 1: there is precedent and appetite in New York for pursuing
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  Speaker 1: justice in the Epstein orbit. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office
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  Speaker 1: has prosecuted other high-profile sex crimes in recent years, including
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  Speaker 1: those related to Harvey Weinstein. In the wake of Maxwell's conviction,
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  Speaker 1: multiple state-level entities, including New York State Attorney General's Office,
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  Speaker 1: have expressed continued interest in reviewing Epstein's enablers. If Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: were suddenly freed from federal custody via a pardon, it's
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  Speaker 1: highly likely that New York could come under immense public
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  Speaker 1: pressure to step in. There is also the issue of
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  Speaker 1: new evidence and cooperation. Maxwell's federal trial may have unearthed witnesses, documents,
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  Speaker 1: and forensic proof that can now be leveraged in a
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  Speaker 1: state case. The evidentiary record doesn't reset with a pardon.
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  Speaker 1: It's still usable. Prosecutors could re-interview survivors and potentially secure
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  Speaker 1: additional charges based on previously unprosecuted acts. The victims, many
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  Speaker 1: of whom are New York residents or were abused in
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  Speaker 1: New York, would still have standing and a clear path
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  Speaker 1: to support a new round of charges at the state level.
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  Speaker 1: It's important to remember that a pardon is not exoneration.
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  Speaker 1: It's a political mercy. Maxwell would remain guilty in the
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  Speaker 1: eyes of survivors, the public, and the facts, and a
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  Speaker 1: federal pardon would not erase the trauma inflicted in New
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  Speaker 1: York nor shield her from her accountability under New York
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  Speaker 1: state law. In fact, a pardon might even provoke a
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  Speaker 1: harder push for state charges as public outrage would demand
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  Speaker 1: some form of continued justice. In this way, a pardon
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  Speaker 1: might paradoxically open the door to state-level prosecution. Glenn Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: is not immune to state prosecution just because she was
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  Speaker 1: convicted federally, and certainly not if she was pardoned by
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  Speaker 1: a president with political motives. New York State has the jurisdiction,
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  Speaker 1: the statutory tools, and the evidentiary trail to bring charges
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  Speaker 1: against her. The conduct occurred in Manhattan. Victims were trafficked
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  Speaker 1: and abused there. The law was violated there. If justice
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  Speaker 1: still matters in any corner of this country, New York
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  Speaker 1: must be prepared to act if the federal system fails
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  Speaker 1: to finish the job. A pardon may spare her from
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  Speaker 1: one court, but not from all. And if such a
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  Speaker 1: prosecution were to move forward in New York, one of
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  Speaker 1: the first hurdles would be the willingness of survivors to
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  Speaker 1: testify again. Many of the survivors have already endured the
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  Speaker 1: agony of facing Maxwell in court, recounting the horrors they
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: experienced as teenagers. Asking them to relive that trauma in
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  Speaker 1: a second courtroom under a new cross-examination would be an
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  Speaker 1: enormous burden. But if a federal pardon were granted, especially
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  Speaker 1: under suspicious or politically motivated circumstances, it's highly likely that
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  Speaker 1: outrage and a sense of unfinished justice would compel some
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  Speaker 1: of them to step forward again. They've already proven their
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  Speaker 1: courage once, and this time, they'd have the moral weight
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  Speaker 1: of the public hungry for real accountability on their side.
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  Speaker 1: Another key element that would come into play is a
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  Speaker 1: vast record of evidence compiled during the federal investigation. The
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  Speaker 1: Southern District of New York SDNY developed thousands of documents,
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  Speaker 1: flight logs, financial records, photographs, and recorded statements, many of
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  Speaker 1: which are admissible in any criminal proceeding. These materials could
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  Speaker 1: provide New York state prosecutors with a near turnkey case.
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  Speaker 1: They wouldn't need to reinvent the wheel. They could simply
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  Speaker 1: repurpose much of what was already established beyond a reasonable
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  Speaker 1: doubt in federal court. If anything, the trial of Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: has already done the heavy lifting. Now it would just
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  Speaker 1: be a matter of repackaging the case under state statute.
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell's alleged role in recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein
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  Speaker 1: also overlaps with state definitions of conspiracy and accomplice liability.
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  Speaker 1: Even if Maxwell herself did not personally commit each act
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  Speaker 1: of abuse, New York law allows for prosecution of those
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  Speaker 1: who facilitate, organize, or aid and abet the commission of
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: a sex crime. Her coordination of travel, coaching of victims
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: on how to please Epstein, and normalization of abuse behavior
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  Speaker 1: easily meet the state's legal threshold, and because many of
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the crimes happened repeatedly in a single location in Manhattan,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: jurisdiction isn't vague. It's crystal clear. There's also a growing
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: movement at the state level to reclaim jurisdiction in cases
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  Speaker 1: where the federal system has failed. This is especially true
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  Speaker 1: in sex trafficking cases involving high-profile defenders, with the federal
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  Speaker 1: system increasingly viewed by the public as corrupt, co-opted, or
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  Speaker 1: politically compromised. States like New York are under pressure to
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  Speaker 1: become the backstop. If President Trump were to pardon Maxwell,
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  Speaker 1: New York would immediately become ground zero for public expectation.
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  Speaker 1: Failure to act would be interpreted as complicity or worse,
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  Speaker 1: as cowardice. All right, we're going to wrap up episode
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  Speaker 1: one right here. And in the next episode, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to pick up where we left off. All of the
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  Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
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  Speaker 1: the description box.