EPSTEIN ‘MADAM’ CHARGED
COLLARED AT NEW HAMPSHIRE COMPOUND
Ghislaine Maxwell’s days living a lavish lifestyle while her victims suffer the trauma of underage sex abuse are over, authorities said Thursday, announcing charges against the British socialite for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking scheme.
The 58-year-old was arrested at an opulent $1 million timber frame home in Bradford, N.H., for allegedly helping Epstein find and groom underage girls for sexual abuse in the 1990s. In some instances, Maxwell, who has more than $20 million in 15 bank accounts, participated in the sexual abuse, prosecutors said.
The daughter of British publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell faces four charges relating to enticement of minors to travel and engage in sex acts between 1994 and 1997. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. She is also accused of lying under oath about her involvement in Epstein’s sick scheme.
Her alleged tactics included befriend Maxwell’s ing the girls, normalizing sexual abuse by undressing in front of them and initiating raunchy conversations. Prosecutors said she was present for some of Epstein’s “massages” that routinely devolved into sexual abuse and at times participated in the sadistic acts.
The indictment referenced three minor victims, including one who was 14 years old.
“Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, and then delivered them into the trap that she and Jeffrey Epstein had set. She pretended to be a woman they could trust. All the while, she was setting them up to be abused sexually by Epstein and, in some cases, Maxwell herself,” acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said.
“Maxwell’s presence as an adult woman helped put the victims at ease.” Maxwell’s reckoning comes just shy of the one year anniversary of Epstein’s arrest on July 6, 2019. Epstein hanged himself in a jail cell in August while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Maxwell, meanwhile, lived in hiding in various locations in New England, prosecutors wrote. She changed her phone number and email address. FBI New York Assistant Director William Sweeney said that the feds “discreetly” kept tabs on her.
“Recently we learned she had slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire, continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims live with the trauma inflicted upon them years ago,” Sweeney said.
An online listing describes the fourbedroom country hideaway as “an amazing retreat for the nature lover who also wants total privacy.” Maxwell bought the property in cash in December using a “carefully anonymized LLC,” prosecutors wrote.
Maxwell was once Epstein’s girl friend and close confidante. The sadistic financier paid her to manage his properties, prosecutors wrote. Maxwell allegedly helped groom and abuse Epstein victims at his palatial residences in the Upper East Side, New Mexico and Palm Beach, Fla. Victims also endured the couple’s perversions at Maxwell’s home in London, according to the indictment.
The investigation into Epstein’s circle of enablers was ongoing, according to Strauss. The Maxwell indictment, Strauss said, was “the prequel” to charges brought against Epstein last year for abuse of girls between 2002 and 2005.
Maxwell appeared in New Hampshire Federal Court and will be transferred to Manhattan. Federal prosecutors will seek Maxwell’s detention pending trial, arguing that her ties abroad and extraordinary wealth make her a flight risk. Authorities said she possesses passports from France, the
U.S. and United Kingdom.
It was unclear if Maxwell would be held in the same dysfunctional federal jail, the Metropolitan Correctional Cen ter in lower Manhattan, where Epstein killed himself.
Maxwell also faces two counts of perjury for allegedly lying under oath in a civil lawsuit an Epstein accuser filed against her.
Maxwell allegedly lied in 2016 when she said she did not know whether Epstein possessed sex toys used in “sexual activities.”
Maxwell’s claim that “I wasn’t aware that he was having sexual activities with anyone when I was with him other than myself” was also a lie, prosecutors said.
Another alleged lie: “I have not given anyone a massage.”
David Boies, one of the attorneys who conducted the deposition in which Maxwell allegedly lied, said Epstein victims were “very pleased.”
“Maxwell, second only to Epstein himself, was the person they felt had most betrayed them, abused them. She had been particularly aggressive in attacking their character, their credibility, calling them liars,” Boies said. “It was both trafficking and abuse at the time. And then it was verbal abuse when they tried to talk about it afterwards. It’s been a great sense of both relief and vindication.”
Strauss said her office still hoped to speak to Prince Andrew, a friend of Maxwell’s who has been accused of having sex with one of Epstein’s underage victims in 2001.
“The example set by the women involved in this investigation has been a powerful one. They persevered against the rich and the connected, and they did so without a badge, a gun or a subpoena, and they stood together,” Sweeney said.
An email to Maxwell’s attorney was not returned. She has denied wrongdoing but fought to keep details of the allegations against her secret. A judge is overseeing the complex process of unsealing documents on those allegations, which are believed to include references to rich and powerful people who associated with Epstein and Maxwell. Many celebs and members of high society continued to pal around with the pair even after allegations of abuse of minors first emerged against Epstein in 2007.
“Today, my fellow Epstein survivors and I are able to take a breath of relief, as Maxwell’s arrest means some justice for survivors can exist. For years, I feared Epstein and his ring. Maxwell was the center of that sex trafficking ring. Now that the ring has been taken down, I know that I can’t be hurt anymore. Day after day, I have waited for the news that Maxwell would be arrested and held accountable for her actions. Her arrest is a step in that direction, and it truly means that the justice system didn’t forget about us,” said Jennifer Araoz, who has sued Epstein’s $630 million estate and Maxwell.