Will Mira Nair, Mother of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Explain her Ties to Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell hosted a party in 2009 for a film by Mira Nair, the year after Maxwell’s boyfriend Jeffrey Espstein was first convicted of sex crimes
(Photo: Mira Nair, courtesy Wikipedia.)
March 20, 2026
Since February, there have been protests outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence over his mother Mira Nair’s alleged ties to Ghislaine Maxwell, girlfriend of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This was after Nair was named in a batch of Epstein files, millions of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein released by the United States Department of Justice.
“Just left Ghislaine’s townhouse...after party for film (Amelia). Bill Clinton and Jeff Bezos were there...Jean Pigoni, director Mira Nair....etc. Film received tepid reaction although women like it much more...”, Peggy Siegel said in an email she sent to Epstein in 2009, as revealed in the Epstein files. Siegel was “a once-powerful Hollywood publicist who later faced industry backlash over her deep social ties to Epstein,” according to a Fox News report. Ghislaine refers to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted for her role in Epstein’s sex crimes. The party was organized by Maxwell to celebrate the release of Nair’s film Amelia.
Another allegation of the protesters is that, in 2017, Mamdani was present at a luncheon organized by Siegel. A photo of Mamdani at the luncheon was published by Fox News. The protests have gotten media coverage, including by major news sites in India.
Mamdani was 18-years-old when he reportedly attended the party hosted for his mother’s film by Maxwell at her townhouse in New York City. There is no mention of Mamdani in the Epstein files. Also, neither the Epstein files or any other investigations allege that Nair was involved in Maxwell’s or Epstein’s criminal activities.
The real agenda of the protesters against Mamdani, 34-years-old, is not known, apart from their apparent attempt to weaken Mamdani’s public support and hence his ability to govern New York City. However, Nair needs to answer several questions to clarify her relationship with Maxwell, and if relevant, Epstein.
In 2008, the year before Maxwell hosted the party for Nair’s film, Epstein pleaded guilty to charges: ”one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18.” According to PBS, Epstein was arrested earlier in 2006 on “multiple counts of unlawful sex with a minor.” Epstein’s arrest was widely covered in the US media. So, in 2009, when Maxwell hosted the party for Nair’s film Amelia, Nair likely knew that Maxwell’s boyfriend Epstein was convicted of sex crimes.
In 2022, Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a a jury convicted her of multiple charges, including sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity. Maxwell, 64, is the daughter of the late Robert Maxwell, 1923-1991, a Czechoslovakia-born British publisher. “His financial risks led him into grand fraud and an apparent suicide” at sea, off Canary Islands, according to Britannica.
Epstein was arrested again in 2019, but died by suicide while awaiting trial in a New York City prison. At his death, Epstein, 66, who was reported to be an adviser to several wealthy people, had a net worth of nearly $600 million, according to Forbes.
In lawsuits, Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, said that, “starting when she was 17, (in 2001) Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, set up sexual encounters with royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen and other rich and powerful men, including Britain’s Prince Andrew. All of those men deny the allegations,” PBS reported. After Andrew’s name appeared more than fifty times in the Epstein files, he was briefly arrested by the British Government and stripped off his royal titles, homes and funds.
Giuffre, the first of Epstein’s victims to publicly identify herself, was recruited into Epstein’s sex ring by Maxwell in Palm Beach, Florida. In fact, Maxwell played an active role with Epstein in the abuse of the girls, Amy Wallace, collaborator on Giuffre’s memoir Nobody’s Girl, told NPR. Maxwell “was telling girls to sexually service her. She was hurting some of those girls when she was angry at them in a sexual way.”
Giuffre was 41-years-old when she died by suicide in 2025. In her memoir, released posthomously in 2025, she alleged that her father was the “original betrayer.” Since age seven, she alleged, she was sexually abused by her father and a family friend. Later, while with Epstein and Maxwell, they exploited Giuffre’s emotional vulnerability.
Deepak Chopra, 79, self-help author and wellness guru, is another Indian mentioned in the Epstein files; more than 3,000 times in Chopra’s case. In a post on X/Twitter, Chopra states some of his email exchanges with Epstein “reflect poor judgement in tone…Any contact I had was limited and unrelated to abusive activity.” Chopra once told Epstein he was “deeply grateful for our friendship” and often discussed attending various events with Epstein and his “girls”, according to People magazine. Also, as one reader, responded on X/Twitter, “Mr Chopra fails to mention that his emails are dated after Mr Epstein had been tried and found guilty of inappropriate sexual conduct with minors.”
Besides Amelia, feature films directed by Nair include Salaam Bombay (1988), Mississippi Masala (1991), The Perez Family (1995), Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), Hysterical Blindness (2002), Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), and the Queen of Katwe (2016). Monsoon Wedding, 2001, is Nair’s highest rated film on Rotten Tomatoes, a site where audiences rate films, while Amelia, 2009, is the lowest rated.
Nair began her film career as an actor and then turned to directing starting with documentaries, including So Far From India, and India Cabaret; and later in 1999, The Laughing Club of India.
Mira Nair, 68-years-old, was born in Rourkela, Odisha, India, and educated at Delhi University and at Harvard. She lives in New York City with her husband Mahmood Mamdani, who is a Professor of Government at Columbia University. Her first marriage was to Mitch Epstein, no relation of Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’ve always been drawn to stories of those who are considered marginalized. If you’re not in the mainstream or if you’re not in the stream at all, you’re virtually invisible,” Nair told the Ford Foundation. "Wealthy people, powerful people get to treat people less wealthy terribly," Amy Wallace, collaborator of Giuffre’s memoir Nobody’s Girl, told NPR.
One of the victims of Maxwell and Epstein was Rina Oh, an Indian student who lived briefly in Epstein’s mansion in Florida. “I was trapped, with no transportation, no money, and threats of physical harm. That fear kept me silent for decades,” Oh told India Today. "From an early age, when I was five or six years old, I was abused by an adult…And it was very easy to manipulate me. I was already very damaged. Jeffrey saw that, and he took advantage of me," Oh told NDTV.
Mira Nair needs to answer several questions, not just to clarify her ties with Ghislaine Maxwell, but, if she cares, to explain her relationship to the victims of the convicted sex offender. They include: Why did Nair agree to Maxwell hosting a party for her film when it was widely known, especially in New York’s cultural world, that Maxwell was the girlfriend of convicted sex offender Epstein? Did Nair have any financial or other ties to Maxwell and Epstein? How long did Nair remain in contact with Maxwell? Till Maxwell’s conviction in 2022? Did Nair offer Maxwell anything in return for hosting the Amelia party? Was Nair also a client of Peggy Siegel, Epstein and Maxwell’s publicist? If so, for long?
Some rich and powerful men and women try to scrub their reputation by acting as patrons of culture, philanthropy, and other social causes. They do this by giving money to the noble causes, while hiring publicists to spread the word about their good deeds. Was this why Ghislaine Maxwell hosted a party for Mira Nair’s film Amelia? In fact, Epstein paid upto $12,500 per month, to numerous online reputation management firms and individuals, in a years-long campaign to flood the internet with favorable fluff, including about his philanthropy, “to bury negative coverage of his 2008 sex offense conviction” and rehabilitate his public image, according to the Detroit News.
In turn, some of those working in films, art, philanthropy, and social fields, believe they are doing “god’s work.” So, they rationalize seeking and accepting funding and other support from tainted sources, even from convicted criminals, as helping them do their work. This brings up one more question for Mira Nair: does she hold a similar view which led her to ask Maxwell to host the Amelia film party?
(Story updated March 21, 2026)