False claim Ghislaine Maxwell's father owns textbook firm; he died in 1991 | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Ghislaine Maxwell’s father owns McGraw Hill textbooks

An Aug. 10 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims a former socialite serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse children has family ties to a major education company.

“Ghislaine Maxwell (sic) father owns McGraw Hills textbooks,” reads the post. “The textbooks used in all schools.”

It was shared almost 600 times in one day.

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Our rating: False

Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell, has been dead for more than 20 years. He entered into a joint venture with McGraw Hill in 1989, but the company became sole owner of that venture in 1993, and it told USA TODAY it has no current ties to the Maxwell family.

McGraw Hill ended association with Maxwell in 1990s

A spokesperson for McGraw Hill, an American publishing company best known for its educational textbooks, told USA TODAY the claim is false.

“The Maxwell family has no current association with McGraw Hill,” spokesperson Tyler Reed said.

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Robert Maxwell was "one of the most powerful publishers in Britain and the world" before he died – after going overboard on his yacht off the Canary Islands in November 1991, according to a New York Times obituary.

Less than two years earlier, McGraw Hill announced it had signed a standstill agreement to form a new joint publishing venture with the elder Maxwell, whose portfolio at the time included the Macmillan publishing company, as reported by the Times.

There was speculation before the deal that Robert Maxwell would potentially acquire McGraw Hill, and the agreement limited his stock purchases for 15 years, according to the outlet.

McGraw Hill became the sole owner of the joint venture in 1993, according to Reed and a Times article from the time.

Platinum Equity acquired McGraw Hill for $4.5 billion in 2021, according to a McGraw Hill news release.

The post's implication that Maxwell influences the learning materials students have in 2023 is also false, McGraw Hill said.

“No textbooks published during that window of time 30 years ago would be in print any longer,” Reed said. “Mr. Maxwell was not part of the editorial team tasked with creating learning materials.”

Additionally, the post claims McGraw Hill textbooks are used by all schools in the country, which is wrong. The company’s website says 92% of school districts use its materials.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, Ghislaine Maxwell's father doesn't own McGraw Hill | Fact check