Epstein companion Maxwell denied bail

‘ The risks are simply too great,’ judge says

•A federal judge in Manhattan denied bail Tuesday to Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of grooming his underage victims and recruiting them to be sexually abused over several years.

U. S. District Judge Alison Nathan said it would be “practically impossible” to craft a set of conditions that would assure that someone with Maxwell’s wealth and foreign ties would show up in court to face the charges against her.

“The risks are simply too great” to release her on bail, the judge said, adding that Maxwell’s ability to stay out of the spotlight in such a sensational high profile case showed she has an “extraordinary capacity to evade detection.”

Maxwell, 58, was arrested July 2 on charges accusing her of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse teenage girls during the 1990s. She was also charged with perjury for allegedly lying during a sworn deposition conducted as part of a related lawsuit.

Appearing via video for the hearing, Maxwell pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On a video monitor, Maxwell was shown seated, wearing a brown T- shirt, with her hair pulled back tightly in a bun. Occasionally, she sipped from a white cup.

Officials allege that Maxwell was intimately involved in Epstein’s crimes — that she “normalized” his sexual abuse by presenting herself to his victims as a trustworthy figure.

Maxwell has denied the allegations, and her attorneys recently said she was estranged from Epstein for a decade before his jailhouse suicide last year.

The judge set a tentative trial date of July 21, 2021. Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted of all the charges.

Two of Epstein’s alleged victims urged the court not to let Maxwell out of jail before her trial. One, Annie Farmer, said Maxwell “groomed and abused me.” Another, who submitted a written statement as “Jane Doe,” called Maxwell “calculating and sadistic,” and said she would fear for her own safety if Maxwell were granted bail.

“I know what she has done, I know how many lives she has ruined,” said the woman, who said she feared that if released from jail, Maxwell would either disappear “or make others disappear if she needs to.”

Prosecutors did not argue Maxwell posed a threat to others, but told the judge she is a flight risk who sought to elude law enforcement after Epstein’s arrest last year. She was eventually located at a picturesque New Hampshire estate.

Maxwell has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since her transfer from New Hampshire.