A video of Ghislaine Maxwell invoking the Fifth Amendment during a congressional deposition has set off a new wave of conspiracy theories, with social media users claiming the woman on screen “looks nothing like” the convicted sex trafficker.
The video released by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer shows Maxwell refusing to answer questions about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and whether she was involved in trafficking young women.
Commentator Mario Nawfal amplified the speculation on Twitter, claiming that Maxwell’s facial features look different from earlier images. “Ghislaine isn’t even the one sitting in that cell!” the post declared, tying the claims to existing conspiracy theories that Epstein himself may still be alive.
Not only Jeffrey Epstein is not dead, but Ghislaine Maxwell is not in prison. The woman picture left is clearly not Ghislaine Maxwell, right. pic.twitter.com/OVLqReHPat
— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) February 14, 2026
The takes got wilder from there.
“She’s either chubbed up on carb-heavy prison food or that’s a different person,” one user wrote alongside comparison photos making the rounds online.
Another commenter, going by “The White Lady,” called the deposition “one of the staged events” and insisted Maxwell is “NOT really in prison” because “the CHILD PREDATORS and TRAFFICKERS are STILL operating UNHINDERED.”
This is not difficult.
— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) February 14, 2026
The person they carted out in front of the cameras is NOT Ghislaine Maxwell. https://t.co/a3qjyGSurE pic.twitter.com/8WiQbTtF9S
A third user offered perhaps the most creative theory: “Seriously, someone needs to look into this, cuz that’s NOT Ghislaine Maxwell, that’s Mike Meyers!”
Some said the eyelids were a clear tell.
The theory is that while she was being transferred to a cushy, minimum security prison, she may have been swapped out with a body double.
To be clear: these are just social media claims with zero evidence behind them. Official court records, prison documentation, and multiple news reports have confirmed Maxwell has been incarcerated since her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges. She’s serving a 20-year sentence at a low-security federal prison in Florida.
But it’s telling that this doesn’t seem out of the question given where we are now.
Maxwell refused during the deposition to disclose whether she forced any young women to give Epstein sexual favors, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
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The conspiracy theories come amid renewed interest in the Epstein case following document releases and ongoing congressional investigations into his network of powerful associates.