Ghislaine Maxwell ‘won’t name names’ for lighter sentence
Ghislaine Maxwell will refuse to reveal details of others involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex-trafficking network in return for leniency.
Ghislaine Maxwell will not reveal details of others involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex-trafficking network in exchange for a lenient sentence, her brother says.
The British socialite’s decision not to co-operate with US investigators after her conviction last week will offer comfort to alleged co-conspirators, including four women who worked for the couple. High-profile men who have been linked to the abuse of under-age girls, including Prince Andrew, will also be relieved to discover that Maxwell, 60, does not intend to talk. The prince denies any wrongdoing.
Ian Maxwell, 65, said his sister maintained her innocence and had no plans to cut a deal. “Prosecution confirmed no plea bargain offers were made or received” before the trial, he said. “I expect that position to be maintained.”
His sister faces up to 65 years in jail after a jury in New York convicted her of recruiting and trafficking girls as young as 14 for abuse by Epstein, her former boyfriend. Prosecutors described Maxwell as a “sophisticated predator” who groomed and manipulated girls in “one of the worst crimes imaginable”.
She had spent more than 500 days on remand in virtual solitary confinement at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan detention centre before her trial started. Maxwell could be there for another six months before a sentencing hearing.
Her brother said that Maxwell was “understandably subdued” by her conviction but “strong in spirit”. Epstein, 66, hanged himself in 2019 while awaiting trial for child sex offences. Ian Maxwell said his sister “is not now, nor has ever been, a suicide risk. She knows there are many people, including her family of course, who love and support her and who believe in her innocence.
“She will be appealing her conviction. She is a fighter and a survivor.”
Any appeal could focus on the judge’s decisions to deny anonymity to witnesses that Maxwell wanted to call in her defence and to allow the jury to hear the testimony of two accusers, including a Briton called “Kate”, who were over the age of consent in the jurisdictions where they say they were abused.
Maxwell has also complained that her “torturous” remand conditions “weakened” her physical and mental health, making it impossible for her to defend herself properly.
She still faces a trial on two charges of perjury relating to evidence she gave in a civil lawsuit in 2016 brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused the Duke of York of rape. But her family believe that is unlikely to go ahead if she receives “a stiff sentence” for last week’s conviction.
US investigators are under pressure from victims to pursue other associates of Epstein or Maxwell allegedly involved in the abuse. They include four women in America – Sarah Kellen, Lesley Groff, Adriana Ross and Nadia Marcinkova – who worked as assistants to the couple. They were named as “potential co-conspirators” in a plea deal by Epstein in Florida in 2008 that protected them from charges.
Federal prosecutors have indicated that they are not bound by the agreement.
Ross, a Polish-born former model who allegedly removed computers from Epstein’s Florida home before a police raid in 2005, was originally lined up to give evidence against Maxwell. However, she was never called to testify. All four women have denied wrongdoing.
Kellen, once described as Maxwell’s “lieutenant”, has claimed that she was a victim. She has changed her name to “Sarah Kensington”.
Once Maxwell has been sentenced, she will be moved to another jail which is likely to be closer to her relatives. They include her US-based twin sisters Isabel and Christine, and Scott Borgerson, a tech entrepreneur whom Maxwell secretly married in 2016.
Borgerson, 46, did not attend Maxwell’s trial.
The string of powerful men linked to the scandal
Prince Andrew is not the only powerful man whose name cropped up in evidence at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial.
One victim, known as “Jane”, revealed that she was taken by Jeffrey Epstein to meet Donald Trump, 75, at the future president’s Florida resort when she was 14, although she did not suggest that anything inappropriate took place. Bill Clinton, 75, was named as a passenger on Epstein’s private jet, known as the Lolita Express. He too denies any wrongdoing.
Jean-Luc Brunel, 76, the French former model scout, appeared in a photograph taken on board the plane, which was presented as evidence. Maxwell appeared to be flashing her cleavage at him, while Epstein sat near by laughing.
After the British socialite’s conviction, victims’ lawyers have called on investigators to question a number of male VIPs who benefited from Epstein’s largesse while he was involved in the abuse of girls on an industrial scale.
Bill Gates, 66, visited Epstein’s New York mansion at least three times after the financier had been jailed for procuring a child prostitute in 2008. Gates also denies wrongdoing.
Most of these powerful men are unlikely to face any criminal action. Huge embarrassment and reputational damage is more likely to be their comeuppance – as was the case with Jes Staley, 65, who resigned in November as the head of Barclays amid reports that he exchanged 1,200 emails with Epstein.
Only Brunel has been arrested and charged with a crime – the rape of minors – in his native France. He denies the charges.
Andrew continues to fight a separate civil lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who has accused him of sexual abuse when she was 17. The duke denies the claim and cannot be extradited or jailed because it is not a criminal case.
Giuffre has also accused Epstein’s former lawyer Alan Dershowitz, 83, of abusing her. However, the Harvard professor claims she recently withdrew a civil action citing legal grounds.
The Sunday Times
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