Ghislaine Maxwells long-buried answers on a U.
S. naturalization form may now pose a serious threat to her American citizenship and reopen questions about how rigorously the federal government has enforced immigration law against well-connected elites.
The disgraced British socialite, convicted in 2021 for trafficking minors in connection with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, appears to have withheld critical information about her criminal conduct when she successfully obtained U.S. citizenship more than two decades ago, according to documents released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and reviewed by the Daily Caller.
As reported by the Daily Caller, federal immigration authorities declined to confirm whether Maxwell is currently under investigation, but they did make clear that under the Trump administration, officials intend to aggressively pursue any instances of fraud in the naturalization process.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in close coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ), reviews cases where there is credible evidence that citizenship was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman Matthew Tragesser told the DCNF. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards fraud in the naturalization process and will pursue denaturalization proceedings for any individual who lied or misrepresented themselves, regardless of who they are.
We will continue to relentlessly pursue those undermining the integrity of Americas immigration system and work alongside the Department of Justice to ensure that only those who meet citizenship standards retain the privilege of U.S. citizenship, Tragesser continued. A lawyer for Maxwell, David Oscar Markus, did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
A British national who also holds French citizenship, Maxwell became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002, according to court records. Yet the statements she made on her naturalization application now appear sharply at odds with the criminal conduct for which she was later convicted.
Maxwell answered no to two critical questions on her naturalization form: whether she had ever committed criminal acts in the past or had procured anyone for prostitution, according to DOJ-released documents. She was ultimately convicted of participating in and facilitating the sexual abuse of underage girls for Epstein between 1994 and 2004, a period that overlaps with and directly contradicts the sworn declarations she made in her citizenship paperwork.
Under federal law, any naturalized American can be stripped of citizenship if it is proven that they obtained it through fraud, including by concealing past criminal activity or using a false identity, according to USCIS guidance. Denaturalization is a civil process, but it carries profound consequences, potentially leaving an individual subject to removal from the United States once their citizenship is revoked.
While immigration authorities do succeed in revoking citizenship from individuals who lied about their past, such cases remain rare relative to the millions of foreign nationals who become Americans each year. Between 1990 and 2017, the DOJ filed only 305 denaturalization cases, averaging roughly 11 per year, a figure immigration experts say reflects both the high legal bar and the slow pace of such proceedings.
The Trump administration, which has made enforcement of immigration law and the protection of citizenship a central policy priority, is seeking to dramatically increase those numbers. USCIS field offices have been asked to provide the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100 to 200 potential denaturalization referrals per month during the 2026 fiscal year, and officials have confirmed the launch of a first-of-its-kind vetting facility to strengthen screening of immigrants entering the country.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence following her conviction for sexually exploiting and abusing underage girls alongside Epstein. Earlier in February, she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition before the House Oversight Committee, but signaled she would be willing to cooperate with prosecutors if President Donald Trump granted her clemency.
For conservatives who have long argued that the rule of law must apply equally to the powerful and the politically connected, Maxwells case underscores why rigorous vetting and robust denaturalization enforcement matter.
If federal authorities determine that she lied her way into U.S. citizenship, it will test whether the government is prepared to treat a notorious figure like Maxwell the same as any other immigrant who defrauded the system, and whether the Trump-era push for accountability in immigration will extend all the way to the upper echelons of global high society.
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