Ghislaine Maxwell hires lawyer who helped convict El Chapo

Ghislaine Maxwell has hired a former prosecutor who headed the investigation of the Mexican drug lord El Chapo.

Christian Everdell worked for more than a decade in the same team now prosecuting his client.

Ghislaine Maxwell has hired a former prosecutor who spearheaded the investigation of the Mexican drug lord El Chapo to defend her against sex-trafficking charges as she prepares to appear in court on Friday.

Prosecutors said that they had agreed on the date with Ms Maxwell’s defence lawyer Christian Everdell, but were waiting for ­confirmation from district judge Alison Nathan.

Ms Maxwell, 58, was arrested early last Thursday morning at a swish estate outside the small rural town of Bradford in New Hampshire. At a brief online hearing before a New Hampshire court that day she agreed to be transferred to New York.

She is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn and not in the Lower Manhattan facility where Jeffrey Epstein died last August.

The charges against Ms Maxwell will be put to her at this week’s hearing where she will have an opportunity to enter a plea and apply for bail. Four of the charges allege that she enticed girls as young as 14 to engage in ­illegal sex acts with Epstein from 1994 to 1997. The remaining two allege she perjured herself when denying knowledge of Epstein’s abuse. Together they could carry a prison sentence of 35 years.

Ms Maxwell has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors have said she poses an “extreme risk of flight” and want her to remain in custody until the trial. It is unclear whether Ms Maxwell will appear in court in person.

The District Court for the southern district of New York began holding some hearings in person on Monday (Tuesday AEST) for the first time since the pandemic forced it to shut.

Mr Everdell was a prosecutor for more than a decade in the team now prosecuting his client. Last year he was named one of New York’s “super lawyers for white collar criminal defence”. As a prosecutor, he was involved in the investigation into Joaquin Guzman, known as El Chapo.

Fellow former prosecutor ­Jennifer Rodgers suggested Mr Everdell might encourage Ms Maxwell to strike a deal with prosecutors. She tweeted: “He will be talking to her about the benefits of becoming a co-operating witness.”

Laura Goldman, a friend of Ms Maxwell, predicted she would agree to a plea bargain. She said: “In the end her lawyers will have to represent her, not the cabal, and I think she will have to take some sort of deal. I last spoke to her three weeks ago. She expected her fate.”

The reverberations in the UK from the arrest continued on Monday as Labour leader Keir Starmer called for Prince Andrew to submit himself to questioning by the US authorities. Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, said the Duke of York should co-operate with the FBI investigation into Epstein. He told LBC: “It doesn’t matter who you are, you co-operate with law enforcement authorities.”

Sir Keir opened a divide with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been more equivocal. Mr Johnson said last week that the law “must be observed” but that decisions over the duke’s participation in the investigation was a matter for the royal family. British ministers maintain that there has been no formal approach from the US authorities.

According to The Sun, Prince Andrew, who denies any knowledge of Epstein’s wrongdoing, has cancelled his annual Spanish golf holiday due to his concerns about going abroad during the investigation. A source close to the duke said he had “no firm travel plans for this summer, given the uncertainties and restrictions due to COVID-19”.

The Times