‘Monster’ Maxwell to spend year in jail as judge rejects bail
GHISLAINE MAXWELL will spend the next year in prison after she was denied bail by a US judge who heard she was a “predator and a monster” from whom victims needed protecting.
Ms Maxwell, a longtime associate of the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, broke down in tears as she pleaded not guilty yesterday at a New York court to charges of luring girls for him to sexually abuse.
The 58-year-old appeared via video link before US district judge Alison Nathan, who agreed with the prosecution that the British socialite was the “definition of a flight risk” due to her international connections, high-profile friends and vast hidden wealth.
The daughter of Robert Maxwell, the late media magnate, faces six criminal charges, including four related to
transporting minors for illegal sexual acts. She will remain at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn until her trial starts on July 12 next year.
Judge Nathan said the risks of Ms Maxwell fleeing were “too great” to mitigate. She described her “extraordinary capacity to evade detection”, access to substantial finances, multiple citizenships, strong connections to the UK and France and a lack of US ties.
Alison Moe, the assistant US attorney for the southern district of New York, told the court Ms Maxwell had “the ability to live off the grid indefinitely”, citing her access to millions of dollars in bank accounts and the scant information about her finances provided by her lawyers.
Judge Nathan said even a larger bond package than the $5 million (£4million) offered would not be sufficient, nor would even the most restrictive of house arrest conditions.
Ms Maxwell, who appeared at the hearing via video link from prison due to coronavirus restrictions, wore a baggy brown uniform. She appeared tired behind her dark-rim glasses with her short hair scraped back into a bun. She addressed the judge softly, politely in a well-spoken British accent.
Two of the alleged victims identified in the indictment against her appealed to the judge not to grant bail, saying they feared it would allow her to escape justice. Annie Farmer, waiving her right to anonymity, said: “She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and other young women. She has lied under oath and tormented her survivors. She has demonstrated contempt for our legal system by perjury.
“The danger she poses must be taken seriously.”
Another alleged victim, who wished to remain anonymous for her own security, told Judge Nathan: “Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey couldn’t have done what he did.” Calling Ms Maxwell a “monster”, she said: “I have great fear she will flee. She has a sole motive of self-preservation.” She added that should Ms Maxwell be released before trial that she would “need protection”.
It was an unusual spectacle with participants appearing by video on a screen in a large jury assembly room at a courthouse where the 60 or so spectators are tested for fevers and must answer questions related to Covid-19.
Before yesterday’s hearing, Ms Maxwell’s lawyers submitted their appeal, arguing that she is at risk of contracting Covid-19 if she remains in jail.
However, Judge Nathan ruled that she was not at exceptional risk and was confident in the Metropolitan Detention Centre’s prevention measures.
Ms Maxwell’s lawyers argued that she had no intention of trying to flee, pointing to the fact that she had not left the US since Epstein was arrested last summer.
Epstein was charged last July with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He was ruled to have hanged himself on Aug 10 last year at the age of 66 in a Manhattan jail. Lawyers for Ms Maxwell said she had not been “hiding out” at the $1.1m (£900,000) 156-acre property in Bradford, New Hampshire, she purchased with cash through a limited company when she was arrested by the FBI, but was simply escaping the media’s glare.
They argued that Epstein’s death left the media “wrongly trying to substitute her … [for him] even though she’d had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade, had never been charged with a crime or been found liable in any civil litigation, and has always denied any allegations of claimed misconduct”.
Ms Maxwell had put up a $5million bond offer, to be secured by property in the UK and six close family and friends.
Her lawyers asked the judge if Ms Maxwell should be allowed out on house arrest at a luxury hotel in Manhattan, submit to electronic tagging and relinquish her three passports.
Mark Cohen, her attorney, cited precedents for bail, naming Bernie Madoff, a financier who executed the largest Ponzi fraud scheme in history, and Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi arms dealer.
However, prosecutors described Ms Maxwell as “the definition of a flight risk” reflecting her wealth, multiple citizenships – American, French and British – and prior success in evading capture, and said she should remain detained.
In documents submitted on Monday opposing Ms Maxwell’s application for bail, prosecutors revealed that FBI agents discovered that she is “extremely skilled at living in hiding”.
She had reportedly wrapped her mobile phone in tin foil in a “seemingly misguided effort to evade detection” and hired former British soldiers to guard her hideout in New Hampshire.
The prosecution claimed in court yesterday that when Ms Maxwell toured the mansion where she was ultimately arrested, she used an “alias”, telling an estate agent her name was Jen Marshall and that she was a journalist seeking privacy.
“She is good at living under an assumed identity. There really can be no question that she can live in hiding,” said Ms Moe. “It shows she is willing to lie about who she is, which should be extremely concerning to the court.”
‘She has lied under oath and tormented her survivors. The danger she poses must be taken seriously’