Ghis: I’m not Epstein
Hadn’t seen pedo in decade
Ghislaine Maxwell claims in new court papers that she disappeared for a year to hide from the media after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide and that she hadn’t seen the multimillionaire pedophile in more than a decade.
Maxwell’s attorneys, arguing that she should be granted bond in her sex-trafficking case, painted the alleged madam as a victim, scapegoated by aggressive tabloids that sought to accuse her of Epstein’s crimes.
“Ever since Epstein’s arrest, Ms. Maxwell has been at the center of a crushing onslaught of press articles, television specials and social-media posts painting her in the most damning light possible and prejudging her guilt,” her lawyers wrote in a response on Friday to Manhattan federal prosecutors’ memo requesting that she be remanded before her trial.
The British socialite legal team claimed that despite the media’s attempts to shift blame to her after Epstein’s suicide, she hadn’t been in contact with him for years.
“The media focus quickly shifted to our client — wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein — 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,” her lawyers wrote in the court filing.
“But sometimes the simplest point is the most critical one: Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein.”
They cited an article in Britain’s Sun newspaper that pictured Maxwell on a wanted poster.
“She has seen helicopters flying over her home and reporters hiding in the bushes,” they added.
They also said Maxwell dropped out of the public eye — and holed up at the New Hampshire mansion where she was arrested last week — not to escape the law, but to hide from “intrusive” media.
“Ms. Maxwell did not take these steps to hide from law enforcement or evade prosecution,” the attorneys wrote.
“Instead, they were necessary measures that Ms. Maxwell was forced to take to protect herself, her family members, her friends and colleagues, and their children from unrelenting and intrusive media coverage, threats, and irreparable reputational harm.”
Through her attorneys, Maxwell had been in contact with Manhattan federal prosecutors since soon after Epstein’s jail-cell suicide in August until just before her arrest on July 2, they added.
Her lawyers are requesting she be released on $5 million bond and say she will turn over her travel documents as part of the deal.
In a detention memo filed last week, prosecutors asked that she be remanded, arguing that she was an extreme flight risk with more than $20 million in the bank and three passports.
Maxwell’s attorneys also noted that the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she has been locked up, has seen a coronavirus outbreak, putting her at risk.
Maxwell faces a six-count indictment for allegedly trafficking girls for Epstein to abuse and lying about it under oath. If convicted, she would face up to 35 years.
A bail hearing is scheduled in the case for Tuesday.