Maxwell left high and dry by hubby
Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal against her 20year jail sentence for sex trafficking is on the brink of collapse after her estranged husband refused to pay her legal fees.
Scott Borgerson, 46, who married Maxwell, 60, in secret in 2016 and ended the relationship over the phone when she was in jail awaiting trial, has ignored her requests to pay a $US900,000 ($1.34m) legal bill and a further $US1m to challenge her conviction.
Until the money is transferred, her legal team cannot work on the appeal against her 20-year prison sentence for trafficking teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and financier who killed himself in jail.
Maxwell’s appeal must be filed by the end of January or the disgraced socialite could face the prospect of dying behind bars.
Mr Borgerson controls what remains of Maxwell’s fortune after she transferred £20m ($36m) into a trust fund before her arrest in 2020, including £12.6m from the sale of her New York home.
He recently met Maxwell’s brother Kevin at the New York office of her lawyers, Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins. The Sun reported that Mr Borgerson was “being difficult” but vowed to send the money. “Her lawyers have not been paid. That is a serious matter in itself,” a source told the newspaper. “Worse, she needs to come up with $1m to fund the appeal. Scott’s given nothing.”
Friends have suggested that Mr Borgerson is trying to force Maxwell to improve his payoff in any divorce settlement.
A friend of Maxwell told The Mail on Sunday: “He thinks if he drags it out, she will give him most of the money. She is in jail … not much she can do from there.”
Maxwell and Mr Borgerson are said to have met in Iceland in 2013 and married three years later. “Her brothers were astonished to find out that not only was she married, but she had turned all her money over to Scott,” a source close to the family told the newspaper.