Woman accused of recruiting girls for Epstein denied bail

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein who has been charged with helping him recruit, groom and ultimately sexually abuse girls as young as 14, was denied bail Tuesday by a judge who said she posed a high risk of fleeing before her trial.

The judge, Alison J. Nathan of U.S. District Court, said, “The government’s evidence at this early juncture of the case appears strong.” She added: “Ms. Maxwell poses a substantial actual risk of flight.”

The hearing was unusual in that it was virtual: Maxwell, who is being held in a federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York, her lawyer, the prosecutor and the judge each appeared remotely from their locations on separate video screens set up in a room at the courthouse, all part of special precautions being taken by the court because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A federal indictment has charged that from 1994-97, Maxwell helped Epstein entice girls to engage in sexual abuse, and that, in some instances, she participated in the abuse.