The Ghislaine Chain

by Mark Van Proyen

August 2, 2025

Adrian Ghenie, “Rest During the Flight into Egypt,” 2016, oil on canvas. Courtesy Pace Gallery, © Adrian Ghenie.

In the early morning hours of November 5, 1991, British-Israeli media mogul Robert Maxwell fell overboard from his luxury yacht near the Canary Islands, with fatal results. Some said at the time this was an accident, others that it was suicide, and still others that he was assassinated by either (or both) the Israeli Mossad or British MI6. Over 30 years later no one knows for sure. We do know he was in serious financial trouble at the time of his demise, having been caught embezzling over $200 million from a pension fund to cover a mountain of debt that had something to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is of interest now that the name of the yacht was the Lady Ghislaine, after Maxwell’s youngest daughter, who is currently serving a 20-year stretch for her role in a longstanding international sex trafficking operation.

I bring this up because it might shed some light on the current media frenzy about the potential release of the so-called Epstein files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly committed suicide in 2019 while in Federal custody awaiting trial. Epstein and Maxwell were longtime partners in crime, not to mention partners in sordid scandal. And thanks to ten of the most conservative, Q-Anon leaning members of the Republican Congressional caucus, the scandal is now consuming the Trump administration because their long-held conspiracy theory has been that many prominent Democrats would be implicated in Epstein’s private files. I’ll return to that shortly.

Marilyn Minter, “Thigh Gap,” 2016, enamel on metal, 72 x 86 1/2”. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Despite an almost daily barrage of attempted distractions on the part of Trump, the scandal still looms large in the news media’s imagination, partly because Trump’s and Epstein’s friendship is well documented. Trump was a frequent passenger on what was called “The Lolita Express,” a private plane shuttling back and forth to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. The Epstein Files comprise the evidence that the FBI collected from survivor testimony and other sources. To protect the innocent, it has been under lock and key as per the requirements of whistle blower laws and other court agreements.

One of Trump’s campaign promises was to make the Epstein files public. Of course, he didn’t mean that any more than he meant to release his IRS records back in 2016. But the about face on the Epstein files continues to stick in the mind of the American public. Trump must have assumed that those court agreements would prohibit him from following through, but that seems to not be the case. Democrats have been notably restrained about all of this, but you can bet that if and when their votes are counted, they will act in unison to release the files, making strange bedfellows with the ten Q-Anon Republicans.

David Altmejd, “L’oeil,” 2017, expanded polystyrene, epoxy dough, fiberglass, resin, epoxy gel, epoxy clay, synthetic hair, quartz, acrylic paint, glass eyes, steel, Sharpie, ballpoint pens, gold leaf, glass paint, artificial flower, and lighter, 37 1/4 x 30 1/2 x 26”. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles.

In this instance, the Democrats’ lack of noise can be seen as strategic: they do not want Trump to play the witch hunt card on this topic, preferring to let him sink in his own stew. Of course, he has played it anyway. Recognizing all of this, House Speaker Mike Johnson punted on third down by sending the House of Representatives on its August recess a week early. No doubt this was intended to give Trump time to influence enough House members to see the issue his way, even though Attorney General Pam Bondi has already confirmed that Trump’s name appears on Epstein’s list, indeed multiple times.

There is a sad and frightening aspect to this drama. Trump has shown arrogant disdain and careless disregard for his Constitutional responsibilities ever since he was re-elected in 2024. Whether it be sending military troops into domestic urban zones without proper authorization from Congress (or that State’s Governor), incarcerating people into concentration camps without any due process, or having anonymous thugs manhandle duly elected members of Congress while they exercise their legitimate oversight responsibilities, fascist authoritarianism is on the rise and everywhere to be seen. Add to this the huge budget boost given to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) and we have a veritable Gestapo on our hands. Already, ICE is handing out forty-five thousand dollar signing bonus payments to new recruits added to six figure salaries. Most public school teachers are paid less than half of that.

Kara Walker, “The moral arc of history ideally bends towards justice but just as soon as not curves back around toward barbarism, sadism, and unrestrained chaos,” 2010, graphite and pastel on paper, 72 x 114”. Courtesy of Sikkema, Jenkins & Co., New York, © Kara Walker.

House Republicans have been blindly indifferent to the Trump administration’s many mendacities, but there is something unique about the Epstein files that has roused (some of) them to action. Conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson has been leading the charge, exerting influence on the ten Republican House members insisting that the files be released. No doubt, they are also influenced by the good old moral revulsion for pedophilia. But there are other odd nuances to the story that bear closer scrutiny.

One of them is the lingering question, “What did the Biden administration do about the Epstein files during its four years in office?” Answer: nothing. But why? The conventional assumption is that the files could incriminate as many Democrats as Republicans, not to mention their mega-donors. Bill Clinton was also reported to have traveled on the Lolita express multiple times. This line of explanation is a little on the simple side, but not entirely without basis. It does not account for the fact that, on July 24th and 25th, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche visited the incarcerated Ms. Maxwell, reportedly to work out the details of a potential presidential pardon (or reduced sentence) in exchange for testimony, no doubt fabricated, that might exonerate Trump. And what of the criminal damage done to hundreds of underage children? They thus far remain on the fringe of the story.

CumWizard69420, “Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein,” 2022, watercolor on paper, 11 x 15”. Courtesy of the artist.

The view of a bigger picture has many more dots to connect, some having been relegated to cold case status. This is where we reach back to the suspicious circumstances surrounding Robert Maxwell’s death. Even though Maxwell had been a member of British Parliament, just prior to his death it was revealed that he was a longtime asset of the Israeli Mossad. Although Maxwell was given a hero’s burial in Israel, the extent of his Mossad involvement has been disputed, as has that of Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein became involved with Maxwell starting about 1988, when his career as a “financier” began to take off despite his not having much in the way of documented financial acumen (in 1977 he was working as a high-school math teacher). It is also the time when he was closest to Trump, who was destined to file business bankruptcies four times in the ensuing decade, always landing on his financial feet soon thereafter, as has been well documented. All of this substantiates the possibility that Epstein was operating his island as part of an international blackmail and extortion scheme, working as an agent of one or more spy agencies, with Mossad at the top of the list.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet has dismissed that theory out of hand, but we also know that Epstein was closely linked to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who had extensive and regular contact with Epstein in 2015 and beyond. So, in the case of the Epstein client list, there may be much more than meets the eye. Most likely, we will never know how much of that roster we will ever see. Given that likelihood, beyond MAGA-land we should assume the worst, which may still not be as bad as it was.

J.M.W. Turner, “The Deluge,” 1805, oil on canvas, 56 1/4 x 92 3/4”. Courtesy of the Tate, London.

Another recommendation is that we do not let the media frenzy about the Epstein files distract us from the dozen or so major news stories that have been pushed aside. There are still wars going on in Gaza and Ukraine, and plenty of economic instability masked by the continued rise in the oversold equity markets. ICE is still running amok, and climate catastrophes are ravaging the Southeast and Midwest, not to mention other parts of the globe. Texas and other conservative-controlled states are redrawing congressional districts to the advantage of Republicans, without proportionate pushback from Democrats or the news media.

The list goes on, as it always does. Mid-term elections are 15 months away.

Mark Van Proyen has written commentaries emphasize the tragic consequences of blind faith placed in economies of narcissistic reward. In 2020, he retired from the faculty of the San Francisco Art Institute, where he taught Painting and Art History. From 2003 to 2018, he was a corresponding editor for Art in America. In 2025 he relaunched Square Cylinder with Bill Lasarow and DeWitt Cheng.

Photo credit: Mary Ijichi