Epstein’s girlfriend accused of luring girls for sex abuse
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested Thursday and charged with playing a key role in his alleged sex-trafficking operation.
In an indictment, Maxwell was accused of helping Epstein “recruit, groom and ultimately abuse” multiple girls, including one as young as 14.
The arrest came nearly a year after Epstein was charged in a federal indictment with sexually exploiting and abusing dozens of underage girls at his mansion in Manhattan; his estate in Palm Beach, Fla.; and other locations.
Epstein hanged himself in August in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he had been jailed pending trial on the federal sex-trafficking charges.
After his death, federal prosecutors said they would continue to investigate his associates.
“This case against Ghislaine Maxwell is the prequel to the earlier case that we brought against Jeffrey Epstein,” Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news conference Thursday.
William Sweeney, head of the FBI office in New York, said at the news conference that Maxwell was arrested in Bradford, N.H.
Authorities had been “discreetly keeping tabs” on Maxwell’s whereabouts and recently learned that she had moved to a “gorgeous mansion” in the state, he said.
Maxwell, a longtime confidante and companion of Epstein’s, had for years been accused of helping to procure and groom young girls for the financier, including instructing them on how to pleasure Epstein sexually.
“They were like partners in a business,” Epstein’s house manager, Janusz Banasiak, said in a deposition.
The daughter of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell also helped manage Epstein’s properties and introduced him to the celebrities and business executives who would form his social circle.
As part of the investigation into Epstein’s associates, federal authorities had sought the cooperation of Prince Andrew of Britain, a longtime friend of both Maxwell and Epstein.
In an unusual move, prosecutors announced publicly that the prince refused to help with their investigation.
Last month, the prince’s lawyers said he had agreed to provide New York prosecutors with a written statement but wouldn’t sit for an interview. On Thursday, Strauss said federal prosecutors still would like to speak with Prince Andrew.
The investigation is ongoing, and officials urged others who might have been victims to contact authorities.
“The example set by the women involved in this investigation has been a powerful one,” Sweeney said. “They persevered against the rich and the connected, and they did so without a badge, a gun or a subpoena, and they stood together.”
Lawsuits have accused Maxwell, 58, of managing a network of recruiters on whom Epstein relied to entice young and often financially strapped girls and women into his scheme, promising he would help them with their education and careers.
“She orchestrated the whole thing for Jeffrey,” said one of Epstein’s accusers, Sarah Ransome, who sued him in 2017.
The indictment charges Maxwell with six counts, including enticing minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity and perjury.
The indictment describes three instances between 1994 and 1997 of Maxwell befriending girls, taking them shopping and to the movies.
After establishing a rapport with the girls, Maxwell would “normalize sexual abuse” by undressing in front of them or talking about sexual topics, the indictment says.
“Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them,” Strauss said.
When Epstein offered to pay for travel and educational opportunities for some of the girls, Maxwell encouraged them to accept his assistance, according to the indictment.
“As a result, victims were made to feel indebted and believed that Maxwell and Epstein were trying to help them,” the indictment says.
Epstein then would abuse the girls in various sites in New York, New Mexico, Florida and London, the indictment states.
Maxwell also sometimes would be present when Epstein sexually abused girls, which “helped put the victims at ease because an adult woman was present,” according to the indictment.
Prosecutors also accused Maxwell of lying under oath during a 2016 deposition in a lawsuit about her role in Epstein’s operation.
When Maxwell was asked whether Epstein had a scheme to recruit underage girls for sexual massages, she responded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the indictment says.
Jeffrey Pagliuca, who has been a lawyer for Maxwell, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.