What MAGA Doesn’t Know About Ghislaine Maxwell

What Her Father Taught Her — and What She Did with It

Ghislaine Maxwell (left) with her father Robert Maxwell and mother Betty (right). Getty Image: Mirrorpix

Welcome back to The Red Letter.

In this edition, I share an exclusive interview from my reporting journey with Virginia Giuffre for Broken: Jeffrey Epstein — a rare conversation with a critical insider who witnessed the disturbing dynamic between Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein up close.

I also revisit Maxwell’s relationship with her infamous father, media tycoon Robert Maxwell — a towering and toxic figure whose shadow loomed large over her life. Through exclusive interviews with Maxwell’s former friends and her father’s former assistant, that were conducted for Power: The Maxwells, I unpack the origin story she’d rather forget.

I’m resurfacing this now — because with talk of clemency and revisionist narratives swirling — it’s worth remembering: Ghislaine Maxwell is not a victim. And she never was.

If you don’t believe the survivors — women with near-identical, harrowing accounts of abuse at the hands of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein — maybe you’ll believe a man. Juan Alessi. Epstein’s longtime houseman. The man who was behind the wheel the day Maxwell found Virginia Roberts working at the Mar-a-Lago spa — the young employee Epstein would later “steal” from Donald Trump. Right. As if a person can be stolen. And as if Trump cared about Virginia at all, a teenage girl he met through Epstein, under Epstein’s control. But that’s another story.

Alessi knew Epstein before the jets, the palatial estates, the presidents and prime ministers. Back when he was just a man with a few homes and a Rolodex of repairmen. But when Epstein’s wealth exploded, so did his real estate portfolio — and Alessi was brought on full-time to manage the Palm Beach house. The one where dozens of underage girls from a nearby high school were sexually abused. Alessi was tasked with washing sex toys, laundering sheets between Epstein’s “massages,” and chauffeuring Maxwell as she hunted for new girls to fulfill Epstein’s demand for three orgasms a day.

I met Alessi while reporting for the Broken: Jeffrey Epstein podcast. I was traveling across the country with Virginia Roberts Giuffre — a survivor who’s been vilified simply for speaking the truth. We were trying to find witnesses who could confirm her story of years of sexual abuse under Epstein and Maxwell. Alessi was one of the very few insiders who answered the door. We visited many: Adam Perry Lang, Epstein’s former chef, hung up on us. Larry Visoski, the pilot who flew Epstein’s planes for years — and who Virginia hoped would help fill in the missing flight logs — never came to the door. Only the logs from pilot David Rodgers were public at the time. Visoski would later claim in court that he handed his over to Epstein’s office. Convenient.

Epstein paid his staff handsomely — hush money, essentially — and many retired in comfort. Gated communities. Mini-mansions on golf courses. Visoski and Alessi were no exception. It was eerie.

Alessi had never spoken to the press until this point. But in February 2020, he sat down with us. A year later, he became a key witness in the Maxwell trial. And during our interview, something strange happened: the FBI called him — mid-taping. I felt like we were being tracked. That night, Virginia’s phone blew up with activity. Her screen exploded, turned black and could not be restored. Cell tower pings from law enforcement tracking us? Possibly.

🧨 You’ve reached the paywall.
Keep reading to uncover:

1. Why Ghislaine Maxwell said she “hated” Epstein — and stayed anyway

2. How her father, Robert Maxwell, shaped her disturbing sense of power and loyalty

3. What Maxwell’s own words and actions reveal about how she justified trafficking girls for Epstein

👉 Subscribe to support survivor-centered reporting — and get the full story behind the mask.