Amanda Knox, the Seattle college student who was unjustly jailed for four years in the rape and murder of her British roommate, said the sex-trafficking trial of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and the criminal fraud trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes are giving her "flashbacks" but argues their defense strategy, to blame it all on the powerful men they knew, isn't believable.
Knox, dubbed "Foxy Knoxy" by the foreign press after it was alleged she participated in the murder of Meredith Kercher while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy, in 2007, said that even though she sympathizes with Maxwell and Holmes, she isn't convinced they were coerced into their alleged crimes by Jeffrey Epstein and "Sunny" Balwani, Holmes's former boyfriend and the co-founder of the Silicon Valley startup.
"When it comes to being held accountable for the crimes of men, and being manipulated by other, powerful men within a system and situation wildly out of your control... hi, my name is Amanda Knox," she wrote in a piece for Bari Weiss's Substack channel Common Sense.
Knox said she knows what it's like to be "a scapegoat for man's crimes and to be a victim of true coercion" and that "if there is anyone who can empathize — and sympathize — with these two women, it's me" but added that even for her, "it's not easy."
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Maxwell is accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls to be sexually used and abused by the disgraced financier and his high-profile friends. If convicted, she could face decades behind bars. Her defense team has claimed Epstein manipulated Maxwell. The team has also attacked the credibility of other accusers and said an angry public wants to see Maxwell punished for Epstein's dirty deeds.
Holmes, a once-lionized young entrepreneur who promised innovative blood-testing technology only to be accused of lying, also cast herself as an abused victim during seven days on the witness stand. Holmes dropped a bombshell when she testified she was raped during her freshman year at Stanford University and testified that Balwani exploited her trauma. Holmes said she was manipulated by Balwani, who managed everything from her diet to her friendships.
Knox said neither woman has expressed enough remorse for the alleged victims of their crimes for their defense to make inroads with jurors.
"I can't help but balk at their defense strategies, which seem like a refusal to be held accountable," Knox said. "While it's true that even powerful women can yet remain subservient to powerful men, we shouldn't forget that the most vulnerable people in these equations are not Maxwell and Holmes, but the victims they are trying to brush aside or discredit."
Knox added that if Epstein were alive today, Maxwell would likely be facing less public hate but said the evidence against Maxwell is still "pretty damning."
When it comes to the effectiveness of Holmes's strategy, it's more of a wait-and-see, Knox said.
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"Holmes has painted herself as a victim of Stockholm syndrome. She's asking us to believe that, very gradually, over many years, Balwani brought her under his spell. That's possible. Even though Holmes was, until recently, a celebrated, feminist icon, it is conceivable that Balwani did bring her under his spell. But in this he-said-she-said situation, the question is: Will the jury believe her?"