Epstein associate’s bail request denied

NEW YORK — A federal judge denied a renewed request for bail by Ghislaine Maxwell, whose lawyers argued that she lives under unduly oppressive conditions in jail pending trial on charges that she recruited underage victims who were sexually abused by her longtime associate Jeffery Epstein.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan submitted an order that said the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan had “met its burden of persuasion that [Maxwell] poses a flight risk and that pretrial detention continues to be warranted.” Nathan’s full opinion is not yet public because she has ruled that redactions should be made.

Lawyers for Maxwell, who has British and French citizenship, proposed that she and her husband put up more than $20 million in collateral — property and cash — to secure a bail bond should she be released on home confinement in New York. Seven relatives and friends had offered to put up about $5 million in collateral to support Maxwell’s release.

Maxwell was arrested in July at what prosecutors described as a secluded hideout in New Hampshire. She was charged with enticing and transporting minors to engage in sexual activity in the 1990s, as well as perjury for allegedly lying during a deposition in a lawsuit.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 for allegedly trafficking dozens of sex abuse victims from 2002 to 2005 in New York, Florida and other locations. He died in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons about a month after his arrest in what was ruled a suicide.