Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / 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 Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:02
  Epstein Chronicles. Imagine this, You wake up one morning and
• 0:07
  check your phone, your laptop, The TV doesn't matter, It's everywhere.
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  The headlines are blazing. Gleainne Maxwell has been pardoned, not
• 0:16
  released early, not exonerated, pardoned as in forgiven, as in
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  the crime she was convicted of in open court, crimes
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  involving the trafficking and abuse of underage girls with and
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  on behalf of a billionaire predator, wiped away with the
• 0:30
  flick of a pen, not by a jury, not by
• 0:32
  a judge, but by a politician. And just like that,
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  the woman who helped orchestrate one of the most vile,
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  elite fueled sex trafficking rings in modern history walks out
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  of prison with her chin high, her sentence vanished, her
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  record wiped, not because she deserved mercy, but because someone
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  with power decided she was useful, or inconvenient or owed.
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  Now picture the reaction. The talking heads jumped to their scripts.
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  The legal pundit shrug inside, calling it controversial but constitutional.
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  The social media war starts spinning its wheels again, one
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  side screaming that it's a travesty. The other saying it's
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  all over blown ancient history, and through it all the
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  survivors they're forced to watch helpless as a woman who
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  recruited them, groom them, gaslight them, abuse them, is treated
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  like some misunderstood socialite who got a little too close
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  to the fire. But here's the thing, and it's why
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  we're here today. It's why this episode has to exist
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  because that pardon, it might close the door on the
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  federal case, but it doesn't seal the tomb, not in
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  New York, because Glenne Maxwell didn't just traffic girls through
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  private jets and hidden islands. She did it in broad daylight,
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  in a mansion in Manhattan, in a jurisdiction that still
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  has the power, the tools, and the legal standing to
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  hold her accountable right here, right now. And that's what
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  this episode's about. Today. We're going to talk about New
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  York state law, the timeline of her crimes, and the
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  very real path prosecutors could take to charge her again.
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  And we'll show you that this isn't just legally possible,
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  but morally necessary, because if New York doesn't act, if
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  they sit back and let that pardon become the last word,
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  then the message is clear. Justice in America is negotiable,
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  survivors are expendable, and the powerful, no matter how monstrous,
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  their crimes, always find a back door. But if New
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  York does act, if the district attorney and Attorney General
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  and so called defenders of justice actually stand up and
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  file charges, then maybe, just maybe, there's still a reason
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  to believe in accountability in consequence in law that applies upward,
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  not just downward. Because if the Maxwell case is allowed
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  to end with a shrug, a signature, and a smile,
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  then it's not just her walking free, it's the whole
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  damn system telling us who it really protects. So let's
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  talk about it. If Donald Trump issues a pardon for
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  Glenn Maxwell, clearing her of her federal sex trafficking conviction,
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  that act would not place her beyond the reach of justice.
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  A presidential pardon only applies to violations of federal law,
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  not the state statutes. In the United States, under the
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  doctrine of dual sovereignty, state governments in the federal government
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  operate as separate legal entities. This means that New York State,
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  if it had sufficient jurisdiction and legal grounds, could still
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  bring its own charges against Maxwell, independent of any presidential intervention.
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  Glenn Maxwell's crimes were not confined to an anonymous international
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  hotel or secluded offshore islands. According to victim testimony and
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  trial documents, some of the most egregious abuse took place
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  in Epstein's Manhattan townhouse at nine East seventy first Street.
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  This location, deep within the heart of New York City,
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  puts much of Maxwell's conducts squarely under the jurisdiction of
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  New York state criminal law. Victims testified that they were recruited, groomed,
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  and sexually abused at that location, often while under age.
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  These acts weren't just morally reprehensible, they constituted potential violations
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  of multiple New York criminal statutes. The New York Penal
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  law includes provisions that directly overlap with Maxwell's known behavior.
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  For example, section two thirty dot three four covers sex
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  trafficking of a child and does not require physical sexual
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  contact by the trafficker, only that they caused or facilitated
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  the exploitation of a minor. Maxwell arranged travel, paid victims,
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  and normalized the abuse, and took part of it herself,
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  all of which could be construed as facilitation. Moreover, under
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  two sixty ten, the endangering the Welfare of a child
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  statute could be invoked, particularly given the age of some
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  victims and the repeated exposure to sexually abusive environments. Additionally,
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  Maxwell could face prosecution under Section one thirty, which addresses
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  criminal sexual acts, even if Maxwell hers see ELF didn't
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  commit every act of abuse. New York law allows the
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  for charges when someone aids or abets a sexual offense
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  against a miner. Her coordination of travel, coaching of victims
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  on how to please Epstein, and normalization of abusive behavior
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  could easily meet the state's legal threshold. And because many
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  of these crimes happened repeatedly at a single location in Manhattan,
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  jurisdiction is in vague, it's crystal clear. One of the
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  major concerns in a case like this is the statute
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  of limitations, how long prosecutors have to bring charges. In
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  New York, However, the legislature has carved out specific exceptions
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  for crimes involving miners. For instance, Class A felonies, which
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  include major sex crimes, have no statute of limitation, and
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  even for lower level offenses, New York has extended the
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  window through reforms like child Victims Act twenty nineteen, an
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  Adult Survivors Act, which reflected a broader effort by the
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  state to correct historic injustices that were previously yielded by
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  outdated laws. Maxwell's known history is intertwined with conduct that
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  would be prosecutable at the state level. The grooming of girls,
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  sometimes as young as fourteen, for sexual abuse in Epstein's
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  New York home involved extensive logistical coordination, payments, transportation, threats
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  of retaliation, and psychological coercion. That conduct doesn't need to
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  meet a federal threshold to be criminal. State prosecutors, especially
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  in Manhattan, where the abuse occurred, would have standing to
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  charge her independently based on those acts alone. A federal
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  pardon wouldn't obstruct the process in the slightest Politically, there
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  is precedent and appetite in New York for pursuing justice
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  in the Epstein orbit. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has
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  prosecuted other high profile sex crimes in recent years, including
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  those related to Harvey Weinstein. In the wake of Maxwell's conviction,
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  multiple state level entities, including New York State Attorney General's Office,
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  have expressed continued interest in reviewing Epstein's enablers. If Maxwell
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  were suddenly freed from federal custody via a pardon, it's
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  highly likely that New York could come under immense public
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  pressure to step in. There is also the issue of
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  new evidence and cooperation. Maxwell's federal trial may have unearthed witnesses, documents,
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  and forensic proof that can now be leveraged in a
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  state case. The evidentiary record doesn't reset with a pardon.
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  It's still usable. Prosecutors could reinterview survivors and potentially secure
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  additional charges based on previously unprosecuted acts. The victims, many
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  of whom are New York residents or were abused in
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  New York, would still have standing in a clear path
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  to support a new rounded charges at the state level.
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  It's important to remember that a pardon is not exoneration.
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  It's a political mercy. Maxwell would remain guilty in the
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  eyes of survivors, the public, and the facts, and a
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  federal pardon would not erase the trauma inflicted in New
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  York nor shielder from her accountability under New York state law.
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  In fact, a pardon might even provoke a harder push
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  for state charges, as public outrage would demand some form
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  of continued justice. In this way, a pardon might paradoxically
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  open the door to state level prosecution. Glenn Maxwell is
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  not immune to state prosecution just because she was convicted federally,
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  and certainly not if she was pardoned by a president
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  with political motives. New York State has the jurisdiction, the
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  statutory tools, and the evidentiary trail to bring charges against her.
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  The conduct of kurred in Manhattan. Victims were trafficked and
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  abused there. The law was violated there. If justice still
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  matters in any corner of this country, New York must
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  be prepared to act if the federal system fails to
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  finish the job. A pardon may spare her from one court,
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  but not from all, And if such a prosecution were
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  to move forward in New York, one of the first
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  hurtles would be the willingness of survivors to testify again.
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  Many of the survivors have already endured the agony of
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  facing Maxwell in court recounting the horrors they experienced as teenagers.
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  Asking them to relive that trauma in a second court
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  room under a new cross examination would be an enormous burden.
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  But if a federal pardon were granted, especially under suspicious
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  or politically motivated circumstances. It's highly likely that outrage and
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  a sense of unfinished justice would compel some of them
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  to step forward again. They've already proven their courage once,
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  and this time they'd have the moral weight of the
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  public hungary for real accountability on their side. Another key
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  element that would come into play is the that record
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  of evidence compiled during the federal investigation. The Southern District
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  of New York SDNY developed thousands of documents, flight logs,
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  financial records, photographs, and recorded statements, many of which are
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  admissible in any criminal proceeding. These materials could provide New
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  York State prosecutors with a near turnkey case. They wouldn't
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  need to reinvent the wheel. They could simply repurpose much
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  of what was already established beyond a reasonable doubt in
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  federal court. If anything, the trial of Maxwell has already
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  done the heavy lifting. Now it would just be a
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  matter of repackaging the case. Under state statute, Maxwell's alleged
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  role in recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein also overlaps
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  with state definitions a conspiracy and accomplished liability. Even if
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  Maxwell herself did not personally commit each act of abuse.
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  New York law allows for prosecution of those who facilitate, organize,
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  or aid in a bet the commission of a sex crime.
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  Her coordination of travel, coaching of victims on how to
• 10:36
  please Epstein, and normalization of abuse behavior easily meet the
• 10:41
  state's legal threshold. And because many of the crimes happened
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  repeatedly in a single location in Manhattan, jurisdiction is in vague,
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  it's crystal clear. There's also a growing movement at the
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  state level to acclaim jurisdiction in cases where the federal
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  system is failed. This is especially true in sexual trafficking
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  cases involving high profile defenders. With a federal system increasingly
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  viewed by the public as corrupt, co opted, or politically compromised,
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  states like New York are under pressure to become the backstop.
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  If President Trump were to pardon Maxwell, New York would
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  immediately become ground zero for public expectation. Failure to act
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  would be interpreted as complicity or worse as cowardice. All right,
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  we're going to wrap up episode one right here, and
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  in the next episode we're going to pick up where
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  we left off. All of The information that goes with
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  this episode can be found in the description box.