'Insult to survivors': Virginia Giuffre's family reacts to Ghislaine Maxwell's prison transfer

CNN

CNN’s Anderson Cooper speaks with Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law about Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison transfer and their sister’s fight for justice. #CNN #News  # news #breaking #24x7

Transcript

00:00The Epstein case today for the third time a federal court has declined to release grand jury

00:04information related to the dead sex offender and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

00:10In this latest ruling, New York District Judge Richard Berman calls the government request a

00:14quote, diversion. He writes that the grand jury material would add little or nothing new and

00:19notes that it is dwarfed, his word, dwarfed by what the Justice Department already has

00:24if it's ever released. Today, Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of the

00:29late Epstein survivor Virginia Jaffray, posted a statement praising Judge Berman's decision and

00:35adding this, it is our strong belief that Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein did not act alone

00:40and the DOJ is fully aware of this fact. We call for full transparency from the administration

00:46and insist that the DOJ release all documents related to this case. After years of fighting

00:51for justice and working as an advocate for sex trafficking survivors, Virginia Jaffray died

00:56by suicide in April. Her family at the time said she was the light that lifted so many

01:01survivors. I spoke with Amanda and Sky Roberts yesterday.

01:06Sky and Amanda, thank you both for joining us tonight. Sky, we learned that the House Oversight

01:11Committee intends to make some Epstein files public with redactions to protect victims' identities

01:16after they start receiving materials from the Department of Justice on Friday. I'm wondering what you

01:20make of that, and do you trust that this will provide some kind of transparency that you've been calling for?

01:29Yeah. First, Anderson, thank you so much for having us tonight. It really means a lot to us.

01:35I would say that certainly it seems as though it is movement in the right direction, and I do want to

01:45actually thank Representative Comer for actually making sure that the survivor's information is

01:50redacted. That's definitely a concern of ours. On the same hand, you know, we're very wary that this

01:57may be just another move of the Department of Justice, right, where they're saying they're going to do one

02:03thing, but then their actions are showing a completely different thing. And so to kind of leak these

02:09documents where people are implicated that are heavily, you know, redacted, you know, one time

02:16at another, that's not really full transparency. Are you are you both concerned that that the third

02:24party names who were complicit in Epstein and Maxwell's crimes may also have their names redacted?

02:30Yeah. Yes, I think unequivocally, yes, we are very concerned that the names that are that are

02:41implied. And I think it's important that we protect survivors that they're the names redacted for the

02:46survivors are for the utmost protection. But, you know, let's be clear, the people that are involved

02:53in this and that are in these files are monsters, they're predators, they're they're, you know, they're

02:59people that have created sexual abuse against young women, children. And so, no, their name should

03:06not be redacted out of these files. I think it's important that they are held to the highest form

03:11of law and justice. And that's that's what people are looking for. Virginia fought for transparency,

03:18for accountability for a long time. I know, Amanda, you've said she even called for the release of

03:23documents in one of your last conversations with her. Is that right?

03:27Yeah, I think that's her legacy, right? It wasn't just, you know, the exposure, but then beyond

03:37exposure is accountability. And one of our very last conversations, she told me, like, my files are

03:44sitting at the Southern District courts right now waiting to be unsealed. And that was her fight. And

03:49that is the fright of all survivors, right? Let's expose these monsters and hold them accountable.

03:56Sky, when you heard about the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell, I'm wondering what what went through your

04:02mind?

04:08I'm not quite sure why we're why we continue to negotiate with with somebody who is a known

04:15perjurer, as well as someone who's sex trafficked and was convicted of sex trafficking

04:20children. And so for her to be put up in what I would call it a posh prison, a minimum security

04:29prison is is an insult. And quite frankly, it absolutely shows that there's some sort of

04:35negotiation going on. I mean, let's be real. And it's not stupid, right? I mean, we're people are

04:40smart here. I think you can see between the lines that there's some type of negotiation going on.

04:46And so, you know, for her to just moments after speaking to the Department of Justice to be

04:51transferred to a prison that would again, be labeled to me as a posh prison would be and it's

04:57an insult. And so she needs to be immediately transferred back to a maximum security prison

05:02held to the highest standards. And I think the last part and the last point here is that,

05:08you know, President Trump himself stated that people that have sex trafficked across borders

05:14should be held to the harshest penalties. And yet we're seeing the exact opposite right now in the

05:20sense that she's being transferred to a minimum security prison, which I'll just state as the

05:25real housewives prison. So it is it's an insult to us. It's an insult to survivors. And she should

05:31be immediately transferred back to a maximum security prison.

05:34Scott, I want to just ask you, and if it's too personal, you don't have to answer, but

05:40you're emotional. And I understand that. And I'm wondering, I mean, this is really hard. You know,

05:48people appear on TV and talking about this stuff and people at home kind of think, okay, you're

05:52another person appearing on television. This is your sister. Virginia is your sister and is your sister.

05:58And this is hard. I mean, the emotion of this, even though this has been going on for a long time,

06:04it's got to be extraordinarily hard for you.

06:13Yeah. I think it's important. I'll crack a quick joke in that, that I'm the crier of the family. So

06:21so am I, it turns out actually. So well, good. We have something. I didn't cry until I was like 50

06:27and now I can't stop. So I want to show it as a sign of strength though. And this in the strength

06:33that she had in the amazing person that she was and still is, um, she fought for so many survivors

06:43out there. And, you know, I think if she were with us today, I mean, she'd be, she'd be screaming

06:50Anderson. She'd be screaming from a mountaintop, you know, and, you know, yeah, we're still dealing

06:56with grief. I think that's important to know is that this just happened in April. Okay. We're not far

07:03removed and, you know, immediately, um, obvious, you know, there's this spotlight on the current

07:10situation, which really to me feels like an injustice because all we're asking these people

07:16to do is the right thing. And that's all that she, she ever asked for was just to do the right

07:21thing. So, yeah, I'm, I'm a little emotional about it. I've been emotional about it, but it's for all

07:27the right reasons. And because we're asking for one simple thing, which is accountability. I think

07:33they just, the survivors deserve that. My sister deserved that. And she'd be screaming that from a

07:39mountaintop right now. What, what do you want people to know about your sister, Amanda, about your

07:44sister-in-law? Wow. Um, I think everyone sees her as like this strong, fierce lion. And she was that.

07:56And she was formidable. And she fought every day of her life to survive everything that she had gone

08:03through and that she was still going through. But man, she was joy. She was someone that could come

08:10into the room and just light it up and, and instantly give you strength and power and love. And her capacity

08:17for love was just outstanding after everything that she'd gone through in her life.

08:25Jeffrey Epstein didn't take that away from her.

08:28No.

08:33No. She was still ready to fight this fight. She was proud of what she did with her survivor

08:42sisters. She, you know, she was, she was ready to keep the battle going if she needed to. She still

08:51has battle going or battles going on. Um, you know, as Amanda mentioned in the Southern District

08:56courts to release her own files. And I think at the end of the day, you know, what my sister wanted

09:02and what I, I believe a lot of, you know, survivors would perceive as justice here would be that,

09:09you know, we're looking for accountability. Like it's, it's far removed, Anderson, to say that

09:15these people acted alone, right? Epstein and Maxwell did not act alone, whether it was

09:19rich and powerful men, whether it was banks or, um, lawyers or doctor, it doesn't matter,

09:26right? Like these people deserve to be held accountable. And, you know, it's a known fact now,

09:31and it's, it's publicly known that JP Morgan Chase did a multimillion dollar settlement with

09:39survivors because of, you know, potential red flags that they might've missed. And so

09:43I think that's what we're asking for is that anybody that's involved in this to be fully held

09:49accountable, that the survivors get the foremost respect and, you know, to redact their names,

09:56if that's something that they would like to be, to be given to them, but to also not give the

10:02additional respect to the people that are involved that are in, you know, in the people that basically

10:09were implicated in this. And those people should be, should be known and we should be investigating

10:14this to the full extent possible. Well, Skye and Amanda Roberts, I really appreciate you,

10:20you talking with me tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you Anderson.

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