Ralph Lopez majored in Economics and Political Science at Yale University. He is an advocate of "impact journalism."

Disputed photograph which Prince Andrew calls a Photoshop, contending he never met Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Maxwell appears to be standing in the background.

In a BBC interview aired on December 1st, Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre once again named Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell as what amounts to an accessory to child sex trafficking. Giuffre (now married and formerly Virginia Roberts) said in the interview that after the forced sexual encounter:

"Ghislaine said, ‘You did a really good job’ and pats me on the back and says, ‘You made him really happy.’”

Giuffre said:

“It didn’t last very long. The whole thing, procedure — it was disgusting,”

The Virginia Roberts Photo

In a now heavily disputed photograph which Prince Andrew has suggested is inauthentic, a full view of the usually cropped image shows Maxwell smiling in the background. Any effort to establish the authenticity of the photo would begin with Maxwell.

Prince Andrew said in the BBC interview that he was at a Pizza Express outside of London on March 10, 2001. Giuffre says the abuse took place at wealthy socialite Maxwell's flat in London on that day.

Ghislaine Maxwell is the former partner, close friend and associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy convicted sex offender accused of trafficking children, in some court papers as young as 12. Until Epstein's demise, officially ruled a suicide, Maxwell was a co-defendant with Epstein in lawsuits filed by a plethora of accusers, now women, who say that as children they were trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell.

The UK Telegraph reported on August 12:

"A court in New York has ordered that thousands of pages of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell be unsealed, rejecting Ms Maxwell's attempts to ensure the papers remain hidden."

Epstein's Alleged Suicide

Epstein's death has become the center of a maelstrom of public controversy over the plausibility of the official ruling of suicide, given the known circumstances. Epstein was reported to have committed suicide, as he faced a rafter of grave accusations involving many powerful figures such as Prince Andrew, by hanging himself in his jail cell from a bunk, which was not much taller than Epstein, using a piece of prison sheet which are known to be made of flimsy, paper-like material such as disposable hospital sheets are made of.

Cropped photo published in UK Daily Mail

The alleged suicide took place as authorities report that two guards who were assigned to watch Epstein both fell asleep at the same time, and the camera trained on the Epstein's cell happened to malfunction. Epstein's brother last September hired a renown pathologist who said Epstein's injuries were more consistent with strangling.

A popular meme on the Internet used by people who express disbelief at the official conclusion is "Epstein didn't kill himself," appended to signatures and Internet handles like a bumper sticker. Major media outlets persist in maligning disbelievers of the official Epstein death ruling as "conspiracy theorists." (#EpsteinDidntKillHimself)

With Epstein dead, Maxwell is the primary living link to his alleged crimes. With Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts Giuffre at direct odds in their testimonies, as Prince Andrew flatly denies he even ever met Giuffre, Maxwell would be a key witness as to whether Giuffre and Prince Andrew actually met.

Maxwell is the daughter of the famous media mogul, Israeli spy, and scoundrel Robert Maxwell, the subject of a number of books including "Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul" by Gordon Thomas. Maxwell died under mysterious circumstances when he allegedly fell off his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, near the Canary Islands.

British MP George Galloway once called Maxwell "one of the worst criminals of the century."

Ghislaine Maxwell was a guest at Chelsea Clinton's wedding in 2010, two years after Epstein had been convicted in Florida.

After Epstein was announced dead last August 10th, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "We need answers. Lots of them."

Maxwell and Epstein