The Mail on Sunday

Ghislaine pleads: Set me free for Christmas

- From Caroline Graham IN LOS ANGELES

GHISLAINE MAXWELL has made a fresh plea to be released from jail in time for Christmas.

In court documents filed in New York on Friday, the socialite asked a judge to consider her $5 million (£3.7 million) bail applicatio­n lodged for December 21.

Maxwell, who faces charges of procuring girls for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and of sexually abusing underage girls herself, was previously denied bail after prosecutor­s argued she was a flight risk.

The 58-year-old has pleaded not guilty and vehemently denies all charges, but faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty at a trial scheduled for July.

In a letter to Judge Alison Nathan, Maxwell’s lawyers claim they have new evidence to support their bid for bail which is supported by friends and family members who do not wish to be publicly identified as they ‘do not have the financial means to hire a personal security detail to protect themselves’.

They have asked the judge to redact the names of her supporters from any public court documents to ‘protect the privacy and safety of people who have suffered… terrible personal and profession­al consequenc­es for having been linked to Ms Maxwell’.

They also claim Maxwell, who is being held at New York’s Metropolit­an Detention Center, has received ‘ multiple’ death threats while in jail. Epstein committed suicide in jail in August 2019 awaiting trial for child sex offences.

 ??  ?? ‘MULTIPLE DEATH THREATS’: Maxwell with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
‘MULTIPLE DEATH THREATS’: Maxwell with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein

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