Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has asked for immunity from future prosecution as a condition for testifying before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The committee, led by Republican Representative James Comer, plans to depose Maxwell on August 11 at the prison in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is serving a 20-year sentence.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping disgraced financier Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
"Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity," her lawyer David Markus said in a letter to Comer.
Markus outlined additional conditions for any testimony. He requested that the deposition not take place inside the prison and that the committee provide its questions in advance.
Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein’s former girlfriend, also said she would testify publicly if she were granted clemency.
She is currently appealing her conviction before the US Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump, who has previously denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, has said he is not considering a pardon for Maxwell.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s but has claimed he cut ties with him years before Epstein’s death.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors.
Democrats in Congress, as well as some of Trump’s supporters, have continued to press for the release of records related to Epstein and Maxwell.
