Ghislaine Maxwell: What we know about Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘madam’; where she ‘hid’ from FBI
Drone footage shows just how secluded Ghislaine Maxwell’s hideaway was, as the alleged sex abuser and procurer of girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein faces years in prison.
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Once a card-carrying member of the jet-set’s fashionable elite, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell now faces years in prison if convicted of sex trafficking minors in collaboration with her former partner, the late Jeffrey Epstein.
The shadowy 58-year-old daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire on Thursday on six criminal counts alleging she conspired with Epstein to groom teenage girls for illegal sex acts — and sometimes actively participated.
Maxwell later appeared by video at a hearing on transferring her to New York to face the charges, which carry a potential life sentence.
Since the late 66-year-old financier’s arrest last year much speculation has swirled around Maxwell, casting her as an international woman of mystery with close ties to both British royalty and US politicians.
The French-born, Oxford-educated holder of multiple passports seemingly vanished last summer after Epstein’s shock death while awaiting trial, which authorities deemed a suicide.
Epstein’s accusers described Maxwell as the registered sex offender’s right-hand confidante, acting both as paramour and madam at the behest of the multi-millionaire’s proclivities.
Together the pair allegedly crafted a sex-trafficking ring to procure young girls for Epstein, who, according to 2,000 chilling pages of court documents released just before his death, claimed a “biological” need for sex three times a day.
The plaintiffs in his case — some poor and underage at the time of the alleged abuses in the early 2000s — said Epstein’s “recruiters” approached them outside their schools or at their workplaces.
Now prosecutors accuse Maxwell of taking girls as young as 14 under her wing in the mid-1990s, later cajoling them into offering Epstein nude massages and eventual sex acts.
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
Maxwell’s name entered the spotlight in 1991 when her father — a British media tycoon who also spent six years as a member of parliament — went overboard the side of his yacht, which he had christened “Lady Ghislaine” after his daughter.
Rumours churned following the apparent accidental drowning of the Czechoslovakian-born businessman, along with details of his financial misdeeds at Mirror Group Newspapers that tarnished the family name.
But it didn’t stop Maxwell’s ascent to a life of opulence: she rebooted her image in Manhattan and became a fixture on the global luxury-party circuit.
Her social circle included Britain’s Prince Andrew, US President Donald Trump and the Clinton family — she’s even pictured in a widely circulated 2010 wedding photo showing Bill Clinton walk his daughter Chelsea down the aisle.
A Vanity Fair writer in 2011 described the well-heeled, well-connected, well-educated socialite as “always the most interesting, the most vivacious, the most unusual person in any room.”
“Her Rolodex would blow away almost anyone else’s I can think of.”
Maxwell reportedly also was an avid scuba diver and pilot, and founded a now-dissolved environmental charity, the TerraMar Project focused on ocean protection.
A 2003 Vanity Fair article described how Maxwell arranged much of Epstein’s life, with the hedge fund manager describing her as his “best friend.”
‘SLITHERED AWAY’
Thursday’s bombshell indictment follows years of accusations against Maxwell, who has so far denied all wrongdoing.
In a 2015 defamation lawsuit, Australian woman Virginia Giuffre accused Maxwell of recruiting her as a teenager then working as an attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate as Epstein’s masseuse.
Giuffre also alleges she was trafficked for underage sex with friends of Epstein, including Prince Andrew.
That lawsuit was settled just before it was due to go to trial in 2017. Maxwell was arrested Thursday in Bradford, New Hampshire, where the FBI said it had been surveilling her whereabouts.
In announcing the charges William Sweeney, Assistant Director-in-Charge of New York’s FBI branch, dubbed her a “villain.” “Recently we learned she had slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire,” he said, “continuing to live a life of privilege, while her victims live with the trauma inflicted upon them years ago.”
WHERE EPSTEIN ‘PIMP’ HID FROM POLICE
For almost a year she has been described as the world’s most wanted woman, with reported sightings in France to the Caribbean to Los Angeles.
But with her arrest early on Thursday (local time) in a rural town in New Hampshire, authorities offered new detail of just where Ghislaine Maxwell has been laying low.
The accused madam for notorious billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell faces a potential 35-year jail term if convicted of procuring underage victims as young as 14 years old.
A court filing in the Southern District of New York said she was arrested at a 63-hectare property at Bradford, New Hampshire, which is 1.5 hours from Boston and a four-hour drive to either New York or Montreal, Canada.
Property records reveal there is just one lot of the size in Bradford, and it was purchased by a shell company in December for $A1.55 million.
“The defendant appears to have been hiding on a [63 hectare] property acquired in an all-cash purchase in December 2019 (through a carefully anonymised LLC) in Bradford, New Hampshire, an area to which she has no other known connections,” said the court filing by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
The timber home was described online by its selling agent as “an amazing retreat for the nature lover who also wants total privacy”.
The agency could not be reached for comment, but US network CNBC reported that the realtor had not known the identity of the new owner when it was purchased.
“I assumed it was a famous actress,” the agent reportedly said.
“Never met her, never saw her.”
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The “gorgeous property” to which FBI Assistant Director Bill Sweeney said Maxwell had “slithered away to” shortly before her arrest is on East Washington Rd, near a picturesque lake.
“From every room there are views of the Mt Sunapee foothills to the west,” the description says of the property.
“From the covered front porch, enter the great room with a floor to ceiling fieldstone fireplace, cathedral ceiling, and a spectacular chandelier, a wall of glass frames a stunning southwestern view beyond the stone patio.
“The materials and craftsmanship are the finest.”
The FBI described the home as one of “luxury” and “privilege”, saying they had been “keeping tabs” on Maxwell’s location.
The realtor described an array of attractions in the “open concept home with first floor master suite, large walk in closet, fieldstone fireplace, window seat and a large master bath with soaking tub, walk in shower and double vanity”.
The gourmet kitchen has “extensive cherry cabinetry, Viking 6 burner stove, 2 Wolf ovens, Sub Zero fridge and breakfast bar and extensive counter space, 2 walls of windows lookout over the massive perennial gardens and waterfall”.
The property also offered: “a cozy den, large dining area, wonderful laundry room and mudroom, partially finished basement, guest room suite and loft office guest room complete the floor plan”.
Outside, there were acres of forest and woods as well as a “fabulous barn for square dances and hoedowns!”
Originally published as Ghislaine Maxwell: What we know about Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘madam’; where she ‘hid’ from FBI