The socialite and the paedophile
Where was Ghislaine Maxwell? A year ago, following the arrest of her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges, the British socialite accused of being his procurer disappeared, said The Daily Beast. She had previously sold her home in New York, and then closed down her environmental charity. For months, rumours about her whereabouts had swirled. Some claimed that in the wake of Epstein’s death in jail in August 2019, she’d fled to France; others, that she was hiding in a “safe house” in Israel. Few were convinced by a photo that emerged, purporting to show her sitting outside a burger bar in LA: she never touched junk food, her friends said. But it now seems that Maxwell – the daughter of the late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell – had never left the US. The FBI said it had been keeping tabs on her movements, and last Thursday morning, federal agents swooped in on the secluded property in rural New Hampshire, which she had bought last December for a little over $1m in cash.
An Oxford graduate known for her charm, wit and network of rich, powerful friends, Maxwell is now being held without bail in a New York jail, facing multiple charges. (Noting that she has had as much as $20m in various bank accounts, prosecutors referred to her as an “extreme flight risk”.) She insists she had nothing to do with Epstein’s sex crimes. But the allegations against her make “ugly” reading, said The Daily Telegraph. Scores of Epstein’s victims have come forward; and many claim that it was Maxwell who lured them into his trap. Allegedly, she trawled summer camps and trailer parks in search of vulnerable girls, and won their confidence by chatting to them about their lives, and saying she’d help them find a job and pursue their dreams. She’d introduce them to Epstein, who’d offer to pay for their education or support their families. As the girls were drawn in, she and Epstein would start dropping sexual references into conversation. Finally, the girls would be persuaded to participate in sexualised massages – leading to serious assaults, including rape.
Owing to prosecutors agreeing to “an extraordinary plea deal in 2007, Epstein largely evaded accountability for his crimes”, said Jacqui Goddard in The Times. His victims will be glad Maxwell is behind bars. But while no one denies she should face justice, there is something a bit troubling in our fascination with her, said Tom Whipple in the same paper. People rarely pay much attention to what drives men to depravity. Yet before she has even gone on trial, Maxwell is the subject of reams of speculation as to how she ended up apparently in thrall to a paedophile – and possibly abusing girls herself.
Friends have talked of her having an “Electra complex”, said Nigel Cawthorne in The Daily Telegraph. Her father had nine children (two of whom died young), apparently to make up for losing his entire family in the Holocaust. He was a domineering, terrifyingly unpredictable parent. But Ghislaine, the youngest, was the favourite, and she was said to have been left distraught when he fell to his death from his yacht – the Lady Ghislaine – in 1991. When it emerged that he’d raided the Mirror group pension fund, Ghislaine, who’d grown up in splendour, and been given a succession of companies to run by her father, was left with a relatively modest income of £80,000 a year. She fled to New York, where she used her networking skills to infiltrate super-rich circles, and met Epstein, another billionaire with a dark side. He gave her the lifestyle she craved; she gave him access to her famous “black book” of contacts.
These are worrying times for people in that book, said Janet Street-Porter in The Independent. Epstein’s accusers have claimed he pimped them out to powerful men, and speculation is rife that Maxwell will name names to get a reduced term. The spotlight is again on Prince Andrew – whom she introduced to Epstein. Only last week, a photo emerged from 2002 of Maxwell posing with the actor Kevin Spacey on royal thrones, during a tour of Buckingham Palace that Andrew had arranged for Bill Clinton. But the Prince says he has “no recollection” of this breach of protocol, just as he has “no recollection” of meeting Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein victim who alleges she had sex with him aged 17. Claims that Andrew is still not cooperating with investigators are damaging the monarchy, said The Scotsman. The Prince must go to the US to answer their questions. But “the royal dunderhead” has always been a distraction, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times – a smokescreen to give cover to more powerful players. Masses of evidence against Epstein was collected in 2007, but we still know very little about what went on in his “satanic homes”, and the nature of his relationships with Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. All this got buried before; chances are, it will be buried again, leaving Andrew to take the “global flak”.
“Epstein gave her the lifestyle she craved; she gave him access to her famous ‘black book’ of contacts”