Which specific emails in the DOJ Epstein release show Maxwell referencing Prince Andrew or Virginia Giuffre, and what do they say?
Executive summary
A January 2015 email in the DOJ’s newly released Epstein files, headed “draft statement” and sent by an account identified as “G Maxwell,” explicitly says that in 2001 a redacted woman “met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew” and that “a photograph was taken,” a passage widely reported as referring to Virginia Giuffre and the disputed Andrew–Giuffre photo [1] [2]. Other documents in the release — notably an earlier 2011 Epstein email — have also been cited by outlets as corroborating that Giuffre was photographed with Andrew, but the Maxwell draft is the clearest direct attribution to her voice in the tranche [3] [4].
1. The specific Maxwell email identified in the DOJ release
The central document repeatedly referenced by UK and international outlets is a 2015 message from an account labeled “G Maxwell,” sent to Jeffrey Epstein and marked “draft statement,” in which the writer says: “In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family,” language published and quoted by CNN, the Guardian, BBC and others [1] [2] [4].
2. What that Maxwell message actually says, line by line
Published extracts show the author frames the passage as a factual recitation of where she was and whom the redacted visitor met, asserts that a photograph was taken, and adds language insisting the author “was not aware of anything improper,” while also dismissing the redacted woman’s claim that she was “a sex slave for the rich and famous,” a line that appears in some press summaries of the same document [2] [5] [6]. Reporters note the note’s header, recipient and phrasing point to Maxwell as author and to Giuffre as the redacted subject, though the file itself leaves some names blacked out [1] [7].
3. Corroborating emails and the wider document trail
Outlets cite other material in the broader release that reporters say aligns with the Maxwell draft: a 2011 email from Epstein to a journalist in which he wrote “Yes, she was on my plane, and yes, she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have,” and internal back-and-forths from the same 2015 day that readers and reporters interpret as identifying the redaction as Giuffre [3] [1]. News organizations — BBC, CNN, ITV, CBC and others — have noted those cross-references as strengthening the conclusion that the 2015 “G Maxwell” passage refers to Virginia Giuffre [4] [1] [7] [8].
4. Limits and redactions: what the released emails do not conclusively prove
The public files leave key names redacted and the 2015 note is a “draft statement” sent to Epstein, not a sworn declaration, so while its text is direct, it is not an uncontested, standalone legal admission; the redaction means readers must infer identity from context and surrounding exchanges rather than from an explicit, unredacted naming of Giuffre in that line [1] [9]. Newsrooms uniformly warn — and fact-checkers echo — that the attribution rests on contextual reading of the tranche and related emails rather than an unambiguous, fully unredacted sentence that spells a name out in the primary line [9] [2].
5. Reactions, denials and the broader stakes
Giuffre’s family called the release “vindicating” and said it supported her long-standing account, while Prince Andrew has historically denied meeting Giuffre and has questioned the photograph’s authenticity; reporting notes the new documents intensify scrutiny but do not, by themselves, alter legal determinations previously reached [8] [2]. Media coverage emphasizes the contrast between Maxwell’s apparent framing — that the photo was real but no improper conduct was known to her — and other claims in the public record about meetings, settlements and prior denials by the former prince [5] [2].
6. Bottom line
The DOJ release contains a clearly cited 2015 email from an account identified as “G Maxwell” that states a redacted woman met “a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew” in 2001 and that “a photograph was taken,” language widely reported as referencing Virginia Giuffre and the Andrew photograph; that conclusion is reinforced by related 2011 and same-day 2015 emails in the tranche, but remains partially inferential because of redactions and the draft nature of the message [1] [3] [9]. Reporters and fact‑checkers treating the DOJ files uniformly present the Maxwell draft as among the strongest contemporaneous records in the release linking Maxwell, Giuffre and the photograph while noting the technical limits of redacted public documents [4] [7] [6].