Epstein’s purported madam now focus in sex abuse cases
MIAMI — She’s been called Jeffrey Epstein’s madam, the woman who recruited girls for his sexual appetites, and at times his social planner and household organizer in places ranging from New York to Palm Beach, Florida.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of a British publishing magnate who died under mysterious circumstances, is one of the most prominent figures left from the Epstein orbit after his suicide in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
And she could well be a co-conspirator now in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors, who have made clear the case is far from over.
“If I were drafting an indictment against her, it would be the same conspiracy to traffic in underage minors,” said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Miami.
Maxwell, 57, is an elusive character whose father, publisher Robert Maxwell, died in 1991 after falling off his yacht near the Canary Islands. It turned out that he had illegally looted pension funds from his businesses, according to news accounts at the time.
The name of that yacht: Lady Ghislaine.
A Robert Maxwell biographer, Tom Bower, says Ghislaine Maxwell was the youngest of his children and a favorite of her father — hence, the yacht’s name.
“I think in his home, she never really learned the difference between right and wrong,” Bower told National Public Radio recently. “And the other tragedy for her was that she was dominated by him, and she learned from him to worship wealth and money and power and influence and really had very little sentiment for what might be called the little people.”
Eventually, Maxwell landed in Epstein’s world in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach and bought a home in Manhattan, where Epstein also had an opulent mansion worth as much as $77 million. According to lawsuits filed by Epstein accusers, she became a recruiter of young girls for Epstein, as well as his household manager and social circuit organizer.
In Florida, Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution-related charges with minors in 2008 and served 13 months in jail, where he was allowed out on work release almost every day. At the time, his lawyers reached a non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department that spared him a potential life prison sentence if convicted on federal charges.
It was after the Miami Herald published stories last year that New York prosecutors took up the case and won an indictment against Epstein, 66, for trafficking in minors, carrying a potential 45-year prison sentence. While that was pending, Epstein killed himself in jail.
Maxwell is not charged with any crime, but New York prosecutors have said that Epstein’s death does not end their investigation into who might have helped him gain access to so many dozens of girls.