The BBC came under fire for giving Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother a primetime slot to trash the guilty verdicts and cast his sister as a victim.
Ian Maxwell, 65, who was allowed five minutes on Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, said: ‘These were Epstein’s crimes and he’s not here to pay that price, and she has been made to pay the price that he should have paid.’
He added: ‘My own view is that Ghislaine had nothing to do with it.’
Presenter Mishal Husain repeatedly challenged him, pointing out that the jury believed the accusers’ testimonies.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Jeffrey Maxwell associate sits while the guilty verdict of her sex-abuse trial in New York City is read.
Lord Vaizey, a former culture minister, called the BBC coverage of the conviction ‘pretty poor’.
Last night the BBC said of Ian Maxwell: ‘He was robustly challenged and his arguments were critiqued directly afterwards by a barrister.’
The row came hours after the corporation apologised for inviting ‘constitutional expert’ Alan Dershowitz to discuss the verdicts on TV, despite him being implicated in the scandal as Epstein’s former friend and lawyer.
Virginia Roberts also accused the Harvard Law Professor, who is 83 years old, of sexual abuse. He denied the allegations.