Ghislaine Maxwell: big names come into FBI’s crosshairs

Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction may begin a domino effect, leaving others who spent years in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit dreading a knock on the door from FBI agents.

Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago with his future wife, Melania, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000. Picture: Getty Images

Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction may begin a domino effect, leaving others who spent years in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit dreading a knock on the door from FBI agents.

Depicted in court as the disgraced financier’s number two, the trial was told Maxwell was just one cog in the machine that helped run the billionaire’s life.

Far from bringing the Epstein case to a close, the guilty verdicts against the British former socialite could trigger a wave of arrests of her alleged co-conspirators.

They include the four women named as “potential co-conspirators” in the controversial 2008 plea deal Epstein signed with federal prosecutors in Florida.

New York prosecutors have said they are not bound by the agreement not to bring charges.

Perhaps the most prominent individual is Sarah Kellen, a former assistant to Epstein, who was described as Maxwell’s “lieutenant” in another lawsuit.

Maxwell sits as the guilty verdict in her sex abuse trial is read in a courtroom sketch in New York. Picture: Reuters

A key witness in the trial, known only as Carolyn, alleged that Kellen scheduled her sexualised massages with Epstein and paid her dollars 500 to pose for a naked photograph when she was 14 or 15.

Kellen, 41, was not called to testify, with the defence complaining that she was among several potential witnesses “who the government could have charged, criminally, based on the testimony we heard”.

Kellen, who is now married to an American race car driver, vehemently denies wrongdoing and says she too is a victim of Epstein.

Lesley Groff is another named in the plea deal. She was an assistant to Epstein for almost 20 years and denies any knowledge of his crimes. Groff, 53, said her duties included answering Epstein’s calls and managing his diary.

However, Sarah Ransome, who alleges she was abused by Epstein, claimed in a lawsuit that Groff’s duties extended to arranging travel and lodging for adolescent girls who gave Epstein erotic massages.

Nadia Marcinkova, another assistant, who is also a pilot, has been accused of engaging in sex acts with Epstein’s victims.

She reportedly visited Epstein dozens of times after he was jailed in Florida. Marcinkova’s lawyers say she was also a victim, not an enabler.

Adriana Ross, a 38-year-old former model from Poland, is another of Epstein’s assistants.

She was once asked about Prince Andrew under oath and has been accused of arranging massages for her former boss.

In a 2010 deposition, Ross, also known as Adriana Mucinska, refused to answer a series of questions on her involvement with Epstein and Maxwell, including if she had ever had a sexual relationship with either of them.

Janusz Banasiak, Epstein’s house manager, told investigators that when Palm Beach police were looking into Epstein’s crimes around 2005, Ross removed three computers from his Florida mansion. Police said the computers may have contained pictures of naked girls.

The FBI spotlight may also now be turned on the VIPs who spent time with Epstein.

Jean Luc-Brunel, 75, is a French former model scout who faces charges in his homeland of raping minors in connection with Epstein.

Virginia Giuffre, Andrew’s accuser, alleges she was raped by Brunel. He denies all allegations against him.

Prince Andrew with a young Virginia Guiffre (then Roberts) and Maxwell.

Epstein’s contact book contained the names of at least two former presidents.

The late sex offender’s pilot testified during Maxwell’s trial that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton both flew aboard his private jet.

Trump, 75, was accused in a lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1994 at an orgy hosted by Epstein.

The former president dismissed the claims as “categorically false” and the lawsuit was dropped.

Clinton, also 75, has faced uncomfortable questions about his association with Epstein. Pictures have emerged of the pair together and Clinton, who denies any wrongdoing, flew on his plane.

Whoever may find themselves on the FBI’s list will most likely hinge on what - if anything - Maxwell, 60, is prepared to tell investigators.

Now she knows that spending the rest of her life in an American prison is her most likely fate, she may be tempted to tell prosecutors everything she knows.

Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor who targeted the mob in New York, said co-operating is Maxwell’s “best and perhaps only chance” to get out of jail.

Never before seen photos of Epstein and Maxwell were shown at the socialite's trial in New York. Picture: Southern District Court of New York

Prosecutors usually use witnesses to take down more senior criminals. However, in this case the ringleader is long dead. According to Honig, the US government may work with Maxwell if she is willing to share information on offenders who were less involved in the conspiracy but who were nonetheless “major power players” - for example, men who knowingly had sex with Epstein’s underage girls.

After Maxwell’s conviction, Damian Williams, a prosecutor in the southern district of New York, warned that “no one, no matter how powerful and well connected, is above the law”.

The Times