Son and husband of judge in lawsuit connected to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein shot
The man thought to be the secret husband of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was “very impressed” by the woman in his life, friends said.
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- Epstein ‘madam’ tried to flee hideaway during FBI raid
- How Ghislaine Maxwell enabled sex trafficking plot
Ghislaine Maxwell’s rumoured husband Scott Borgerson bragged to his parents about dating a “high profile woman”, but they had no idea about her ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, claims an insider.
The Boston-based tech entrepreneur Borgerson reportedly left his wife Rebecca, the mother of his two children, for the accused sex trafficker in 2014.
Prosecutors alleged in court this week that Maxwell – currently in custody – is married, but they have not shared her husband’s identity.
Evidence points to the 43-year-old millionaire, who hails from Missouri.
While his relatives have not confirmed whether Maxwell is part of the family, an insider told The Sun he had made a big fuss about her to them.
But the marriage was said to have come as a complete surprise to her supposed father-in-law, Chris – who is estranged from his son – and who said his son was a “very private” man.
However, despite Chris Borgerson claiming he is “estranged” from his son, the source insisted the former sheriff and his mother Sara knew of his relationship from the beginning.
But it appears they may have not known the details of Maxwell’s alleged history with the late Jeffrey, for who she has been accused of luring young girls for. She has pleaded not guilty.
The source said: “I knew the Borgerson family a while ago, and I met Scott once or twice. I knew he was dating someone new after he split from his wife.
“When he told his parents of his relationship, I didn’t know who she was. I don’t think he told them of her background or what she’d been accused of.
“I just know he described her as a high profile woman – I thought she was a model or something.
“He said she spoke different languages and seemed very impressed by her.
“I’ve been out of the Borgerson family circle for some years, so I don’t know if they got married.”
Borgerson’s father said he didn’t “know anything”.
“I’m not involved in anything, nobody’s talking to me.
“There’s nothing I can do to help you guys; I’m not going to talk about my family business with a stranger.
“It’s not my problem, I have enough problems in my life. On the record or off the record, I have no clue what’s going on.”
“I got divorced 10 or 11 years ago; we don’t talk, and the kids were caught in the middle.”
Prosecutors have said Maxwell refused to give the name of her spouse to court officials after her arrest.
Alison Moe, for the prosecution, said that Maxwell, 58, had refused to identify her spouse to the officials responsible for gathering details on a defendant’s finances and family ties before a bail hearing.
“The defendant makes no mention whatsoever about the financial circumstances or assets of her spouse, whose identity she declined to provide to pre-trial,” Ms Moe said.
“There’s no information about who will be co-signing this bond or their assets, and no details whatsoever.”
In her court document asking that she be granted bail no spouse is mentioned.
She possibly got secretly married to protect her personal fortune from being seized and given to victims.
Being married, however, would make it more difficult to seize her fortune as it would be hard to differentiate what is her own and what is her husband’s.
Borgerson is linked to the $A1.5 million New Hampshire mansion where Maxwell was arrested by the FBI.
But he has always denied their relationship, saying they are just friends.
The British socialite was charged with conspiring to recruit under-age girls who were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein. She has denied the accusations.
Maxwell reportedly lived with Scott Borgerson, who is 14 years younger than her, in an oceanfront property in Manchester-by-the-Sea, near Boston.
It is thought that Maxwell secretly married to protect her substantial fortune. A friend believes the hidden marriage — a bombshell revelation at Maxwell’s court hearing — was likely orchestrated “to protect the money she had,” The Times UK reported.
Prosecutors say the British heiress is linked to 15 different bank accounts, some with balances of more than US$20 million ($A28 million), and that she keeps other accounts in foreign countries containing more than US$1 million ($A1.4 million), reports the New York Post.
Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam also snagged US$15 million ($A21 million) on a sale of an unidentified residence in New York City in 2016, prosecutors said.
MASSEUSE RECALLS ‘CHATTY’ PRINCE ANDREW ON ‘PAEDO ISLAND’
A masseuse claims to have given several entirely non-sexual massages to a “chatty” Prince Andrew while working on Jeffrey Epstein’s “paedophile Island” in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
But the most excitement Heidi Windel, now 75, experienced on the Caribbean island was unwelcome — and came when a thrillseeking Ghislaine Maxwell barely managed to land a helicopter she was flying without benefit of a pilots license.
“I could see the whites of their eyes,” Ms Windel said of onlookers, according to an interview she gave to journalist Graydon Carter’s digital news weekly, Air Mail.
She said Prince Andrew once had her in stitches by jokingly complaining about a mosquito bite he’d received on his “royal a**e” as she rubbed him down once during her stint on the island between 1999 and 2004.
“When the massage was over he got very chatty and had me in stitches talking about the errant mosquito that had evaded its net the night before and bitten his ‘royal a**e’,” Ms Windel said, according to the New York Post.
Ms Windel said Maxwell, Epstein’s alleged procurer and right-hand-woman, was always on the island with the billionaire and carried herself with an air of invincibility.
During one work trip to the island, Ms Windel said she watched nervously as Maxwell recklessly piloted a helicopter on the island.
“I’m watching in absolute horror a helicopter coming in from Tortola flying incredibly low — they’re not supposed to fly that low!” Windel said.
“I was waiting for the helicopter to graze the tops of the many sailboats anchored in St. Thomas’s Christmas Cove,” she went on, adding that the chopper was endangering the boaters as it wobbled “40 feet (13m) from their heads”.
When the helicopter did land on the Little Saint James helipad, Maxwell allegedly disembarked from the cockpit laughing.
“She popped out and came bopping up the road, giggling and commenting on her navigation skills.
“At that point I lost it,” Ms Windel said. “I was so angry, I let her have it with both barrels.”
Maxwell, 58, remains held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She faces charges that she conspired with Epstein to sexually abuse young women.
Ms Windel said rumours swirled of underage girls on Epstein’s notorious Caribbean hideaway.
Before dying behind bars last summer, the convicted paedophile was accused of forcing young women, including some who were underage, into participating in sex orgies at the US Virgin Islands property.
Epstein would allegedly host society’s elite on the island, including Prince Andrew — though the royal has denied the claim.
Often he’d fly top guests — including former President Bill Clinton — to the island on his private plane, the Post said.
One of the planes was nicknamed the “Lolita Express” for the young women who were frequently aboard. Another is now on the market for a reported $A25 million.
GHISLAINE’S ‘LIEUTENANT’ COULD BE ARRESTED NEXT
The parents of Ghislaine Maxwell’s accused “lieutenant” Sarah Kellen, have revealed they are concerned their estranged daughter could be arrested next in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, according to a report.
“After Maxwell I think Sarah’s next,” Kellen’s mother, Mary Kellen said, according to media reports.
But the 74-year-old mother said her daughter was just another victim swept up in Epstein’s cycle of sexual abuse, having begun working for him as a teenager.
“What happened to all those girls is horrendous but I do feel that Sarah was also a victim,” the mother told the outlet. “I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist but I can see she was manoeuvred or brainwashed,” Mrs Kellen told the Daily Mail.
“I just hope someone doesn’t go and kill her. There are a lot of prominent, powerful people out there that don’t want anything said,” she said.
The 58-year-old British socialite and accused Epstein madame, was arrested July 2 on charges of recruiting and grooming underage girls to be sexually abused be her and Epstein — her one-time lover.
In lawsuits which named Kellen as a defendant, Kellen is described as Maxwell’s second in command, Maxwell’s assistant and even “lieutenant”, reports the New York Post.
Kellen, 41, worked for Epstein for around ten years as a personal assistant and has been accused by victims of complicity in their sexual abuse. In one case, Kellen was accused of taking nude photographs of victim Juliette Bryant for Epstein.
Kellen’s parents say they lost touch with their daughter when she was cast out of their Jehovah’s Witness church for nude modelling. It was around that time that Kellen began working for the 66-year-old dead paedophile when she was 18 or 19, the outlet reported.
“I think she was manipulated by Epstein due to her age and the circumstances. In my opinion she’s a victim just as much as some of the others,” Kellen’s dad, Thomas Kellen said.
“She was told what to do and what to say. I feel she is still probably afraid to say anything – even now that he’s gone.”
Kellen’s parents said their daughter told them she was going to be a “personal assistant” to “this investor”.
AUSSIE VICTIM: ‘EVIL’ GHISLAINE ‘WORSE’ THAN EPSTEIN
Meanwhile, Epstein’s Australian-based victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre says Ghislaine Maxwell “did things even worse” than the late billionaire did, claiming she was the “mastermind” of her abuse.
“She is a monster. She’s worse than Epstein. She did things even worse than Epstein did. She was vicious. She was evil. And she’s a woman,” the 36-year-old Giuffre said during an interview on CBS in the US.
Maxwell is charged with recruiting girls for Epstein — a moment Giuffre said was “just surreal” and “momentous”, The Sun reports.
“It’s one of those life moments that I’ll never forget.”
Giuffre has said she met Maxwell when she was 16 years old, and alleged that the disgraced British socialite arranged for her to have sex with Prince Andrew three times.
The prince has adamantly denied the accusation.
Maxwell’s lawyers have argued she’s been a “victim of ‘media spin,’” and that she hasn’t done what she’s been accused of.
“They’re doing their job,” she said. “But I know that woman. I’ve known her really well. Put it this way. Epstein was Pinocchio, and she was Gepetto,” Ms Giuffre said.
“She was pulling the strings. She had the money, he had the contacts. … But Ghislaine was much more conniving and smart than Epstein ever was.”
Giuffre said that Prince Andrew, with whom she posed for an infamous picture that includes Maxwell in the background, “should be panicking,” as he “knows he’s guilty.”
“He needs to be held accountable. We need to show the world that the rich and the mighty can fall too.”
The Epstein accuser believes that Maxwell has dirt on “very well-known names” including government officials, politicians, and “royalty.”
“Like, you know, they were taping everybody, every moment, when you walked into the New York mansion, to Palm Beach. Everything was being filmed,” she said, adding those who were filmed didn’t know it.
She said that if Maxwell “squeals on some of the people … they won’t be happy with her talking about that.”
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Prosecutors allege Maxwell helped groom girls as young as 14 for sex abuse by Epstein during a period spanning 1994 to 1997, and say she sometimes participated in the abuse herself.
On Tuesday (local time), Maxwell broke down in tears after she was refused bail and would spend the next year in prison awaiting trial on child sex charges.
US District Court Judge Alison Nathan heard Maxwell was “the very definition of a flight risk” who used a series of alter egos to hide from authorities and lied to investigators about her vast wealth.
During a video court appearance on Tuesday (local time), Maxwell, 58, pleaded not guilty to child sex crimes involving her paedophile boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in jail last August.
The court heard from two alleged victims, one of whom said: “Those of us who survived implore this court to detain her on bail.”.
Prosecutors said Maxwell had lied to investigators about her finances and her whereabouts during their probe into billionaire Epstein’s sex trafficking empire.
They argued she should remain in jail ahead of her trial next year, rather than stay at the “luxury hotel in Manhattan” her legal team had requested she be housed in.
Maxwell faces a potential 35 years jail for six charges including grooming and recruiting young women for sex with Epstein between 1994 and 1997.
Epstein killed himself in custody after being charged with dozens of child sex crimes last year.
ANDREW BACK IN SPOTLIGHT AFTER ARREST
Prince Andrew is among those accused of being part of Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme, with Australian-based mother Virginia Giuffre Roberts having accused him of having sex with her when she was underage.
She says she had sex with Andrew at Maxwell’s London home at the behest of Epstein.
The Duke strenuously denies the accusations.
He says he doesn’t remember meeting Roberts, and he may be called to give evidence at Maxwell’s trial.
Prosecutors allege Maxwell also took part in some of the sex acts, committed across luxury properties owned by Epstein and herself in New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach and London.
She also faces two perjury charges for allegedly lying under oath in a separate civil suit in 2016.
Maxwell’s lawyers argued she should be remanded in detention in a New York hotel and that keeping her in prison exposed her to the risk of catching coronavirus.
The court heard from two of Maxwell’s alleged victims, who pleaded with Judge Alison Nathan to keep her in jail.
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She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused victims,” said Annie Farmer, who had previously testified a year ago at Epstein’s bail hearing.
Farmer said Maxwell had shown no remorse and the danger she continues to pose ”must be taken seriously”.
“Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not have done what he did. Jeffrey was in charge, but she egged him on and encouraged him.”
Another victim, named as Jane Doe, said she needed protection after coming forward about the alleged abuse, and that she had received a phone call threatening her two-year-old child.
“I have great fear that Ghislaine Maxwell will flee,” she said.
“I know what she has done, I know how many lives she has ruined and I know she has no remorse.
“If she believes she risks prison, she will never come back.
“I personally know her international connections that will allow her to disappear at a minute’s notice.”
Maxwell, who is the Oxford University educated daughter of disgraced British publisher Robert Maxwell, appeared via video link from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where prosecutors argued she “presents extreme risk of flight”.
“There are serious red flags here”, said Assistant US lawyer Alison Moe.
Maxwell had “significant financial means, has not come close to thoroughly disclosing finances, has the ability to escape beyond reach of extradition and a strong incentive to flee.”
ADA Moe said Maxwell’s “extensive international ties” and three passports meant she “could live beyond the reach of justice”.
She had also used a fake name to purchase the luxury New England bolthole where she was arrested this month.
Moe said that a real estate agent told the FBI that Maxwell posed as a journalist called “Janet Marshall” to purchase the house in New Hampshire in November 2019.
Maxwell allegedly bought the property with another individual, called “Scott Marshall,” who claimed to be retired from the British military.
In court papers, prosecutors said Maxwell went to great lengths to avoid capture, including wrapping her mobile phone in tinfoil in “a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection”
Maxwell also changed her email address and was guarded by former British military officers at the New Hampshire estate she purchased in December with cash.
The guards were hired by Maxwell’s brother and worked in “rotations”, wrote prosecutors.
One ex-soldier, according to court documents, told the FBI that he used Maxwell’s credit card to shop for supplies so she did not have to leave the house and risk detection.
Court papers described her dramatic arrest earlier this month, with armed FBI agents breaking through the gates of her rural Bradford estate and apprehending her in a tracksuit.
The 58-year-old was located by FBI agents in an interior room with her mobile phone wrapped in tin foil, to further evade authorities.
“Through a window, the agents saw the defendant ignore the direction to open the door and, instead, try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her,” said prosecutors.
Authorities broke the door down to arrest her.
Ms Moe said that Maxwell had been “willing to lie to hide herself and disguise her identity” before her arrest.
Maxwell had three passports, had travelled internationally 15 times in recent years and held almost $AU30 million cash in 15 bank accounts.
In court, her lawyer Mark Cohen denied Maxwell had hidden from police and that she was a flight risk.
“She’s part of a very large and close family,” he said.
“Our client is not Jeffrey Epstein, and she has been the target of endless media spin.”
In refusing bail, District Court Judge Alison Nathan said the prosecution case “appeared strong” and that Maxwell’s “opaque finances” and international ties made her a flight risk.
“The risks are simply too great,” she said of bail.
Judge Nathan also said that although COVID-19 was a concern, there were no additional risks for Maxwell given her age and health.
The judge set a preliminary trial date of July 21, 2021, saying it was expected to take two weeks.
– with staff writers