MIAMI — In David Oscar Markus’ penthouse office, the wall is lined with framed images of the fictional boxer Rocky, Bernini’s statue of David, Jackie Robinson sliding into home plate and Yoda — all an homage to the lawyer’s affinity for the underdog. He counts Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Markus’ client, among them. “I think she's a scapegoat,” he said in an extended interview last month. “She would never have been prosecuted had Jeffrey Epstein not committed suicide, or whatever, however he died.” Markus — a career criminal defense attorney and a disciple of lightning-rod lawyer Alan Dershowitz — is at the center of an ever-growing and inescapable political scandal over the Epstein files, which has distracted Congress for months and served as a perennial cudgel against President Donald Trump’s White House. Perhaps no one has as much knowledge of Epstein as Maxwell, his longtime girlfriend and the onetime British socialite, and few people at this point have as much knowledge of Maxwell as Markus. Maxwell — the only convicted co-conspirator of Epstein — was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022 on several sex crime charges, including sex trafficking of a minor. She is seeking clemency from Trump, whose relationship with Epstein has become the subject of much scrutiny and intrigue, and Markus is playing a key role in her communication with senior Justice Department leadership. The bipartisan pressure on the Trump administration and Congress to deliver further accountability in the Epstein case, including potentially more prosecutions, has complicated Maxwell’s path to clemency and, by extension, Markus’ mission. It could also serve as leverage in Maxwell’s quest to get out of prison. Markus has told Congress that his client, who previously invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when she declined to cooperate with the House Oversight Committee probe, would testify freely if she were granted clemency. “Ghislaine Maxwell is a convicted sex offender who helped Jeffrey Epstein traffic young women and girls, and she refused to answer a single question before the Oversight Committee,” said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee probing the Epstein case. “The idea that she deserves a pardon is disgusting and outrageous.” “They have their own job to do, and they’re trying to make their constituents happy,” Markus said of the lawmakers investigating the matter. “I’m trying to protect my… [TheTopNews] Read More.
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