The former girlfriend and accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, is fueling more speculation about his shocking death in prison six summers ago.

"I do not believe he died by suicide, no," she said in an interview transcript released by the Justice Department on Friday.

Epstein's death revisited

Some have long suspected that Epstein blackmailed powerful individuals who may have had a hand in his jailhouse death - theories the Trump administration officially rejected this summer, sparking a political firestorm.

Epstein died in 2019 while facing charges for sex trafficking in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. The federal government has attributed his death to suicide and the negligence of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which is notorious for being poorly run.

The guards who were supposed to be watching Epstein dozed off on the job and later falsified their logbooks to hide the fatal oversight. They were brought up on federal charges and reached a plea deal, allowing them to avoid jail.

Maxwell, in an interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, said the federal prison system is dangerous for inmates, which may have contributed to Epstein being murdered.

"There's a third component to that, which is having experienced now, the mismanagement and inefficiencies and total dereliction of duty at the Bureau of Prisons," she said.

No list?

When asked who might have killed Epstein, Maxwell offered no opinion - but suggested that another inmate may have done it.

"In prison, where I am, they will kill you or they will pay — somebody can pay a prisoner to kill you for $25 worth of commissary. That's about the going rate for a hit with a lock today," she said.

The Justice Department met with Maxwell, the only person to ever face justice over Epstein's crimes, last month as a right-wing backlash over the Epstein files started to consume the White House.

The DOJ had announced that no further information from the case would be released - with the DOJ saying Epstein died by suicide and that there is no evidence of an incriminating "client list" naming rich and powerful people.

Maxwell poured cold water on rumors that Epstein was murdered as part of a cover-up - saying "there is no list."

"I do not have any reason to believe that," she added. "And I also think it's ludicrous because if that – I also happen to think if that is what they wanted, they would've had plenty of opportunity when he wasn't in jail."

"And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would've been a very easy target."