Ghislaine Maxwell Might Have Been Murdered if Granted Bail Over Info on Epstein, Claims Report
11:04 GMT 14.11.2021 (Updated: 15:16 GMT 28.05.2023)
© REUTERS / JANE ROSENBERG
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British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, held on remand in a Brooklyn detention centre since her arrest in July 2020, is to go on trial in the downtown Manhattan US District Court on 29 November for sex trafficking children, perjury and the enticement of minors while a close associate of the late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, has consistently been denied bail by judges as she awaits her trial on charges of procuring underage girls for the late tycoon to sex-traffic and abuse. While repeatedly pronounced a “flight risk”, sources claim there has been another reason why she was not allowed to post bail, reported The Times.
“The system has been keeping her in prison to keep her safe,” said a source cited by the outlet.
The report feeds into the speculations surrounding Epstein’s death behind bars and the information Maxwell might have in her possession implicating powerful people. Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with running a sex trafficking network of minors in 2019, died in his Manhattan cell on 10 August while awaiting trial, having pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was found dead in his prison cell in New York City with officials declaring that he had committed suicide by hanging.
Jeffrey Epstein is shown in this undated Florida Department of Law Enforcement photo
© REUTERS / Florida Department of Law Enforcement/Handout
A second pathologist at the autopsy, present reportedly at the request of Epstein’s brother, Mark, concluded that the tycoon’s neck injuries were more consistent with homicide. However, authorities remained convinced that Epstein took his own life.
“The suspicion is if she’d been allowed out on bail, she’d almost certainly have been murdered,” the source was cited as saying.
According to the report, there is a great deal of fear and paranoia among Maxwell’s friends (as well as former friends of Epstein) regarding any kind of association with the case, with those contacted only agreeing to speak on condition of anonymity. The case has tainted and reflected on a multitude of high-profile personalities, such as Prince Andrew, facing a legal suit from one of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre. The Prince has vehemently denied her accusations she was forced into sex with the royal by Epstein and Maxwell.
n this Sept. 2, 2000 file photo, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, driven by Britain's Prince Andrew leaves the wedding of a former girlfriend of the prince, Aurelia Cecil, at the Parish Church of St Michael in Compton Chamberlayne near Salisbury, England. The FBI said Thursday July 2, 2020, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was accused by many women of helping procure underage sex partners for Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested in New Hampshire.
© AP Photo / Chris Ison
Ghislaine Maxwell, former confidante and lover of the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, arrested on 2 July 2020 while in hiding at a remote property in New Hampshire, is accused of grooming young girls and women for the late multimillionaire.
The daughter of the debt-ridden publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, who officially died of drowning in 1991, faces an eight-count indictment, which covers alleged crimes committed from 1994 and 2004 and could land her behind bars for 80 years.
Jeffrey Epstein Associate
© AP Photo / John Minchillo
Ahead of the trial, set to begin on 29 November, she has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has consistently maintained her innocence. Since her arrest, Ghislaine Maxwell, accused of being Epstein’s “madam”, or pimp, has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, in conditions her legal team and her brother have repeatedly complained about.
Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim likened his client's "reprehensible" living conditions to those of Hannibal Lecter, the fictional serial killer portrayed by actor Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film "The Silence of the Lambs."
Five bail requests have been made, all of them denied by US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan. Prosecutors have cited the woman’s citizenship in three countries and significant wealth as factors making her a "significant flight risk".
Maxwell, whose trial will deal only with the sex-related charges, as she faces a second trial at a later date on the perjury case, has reportedly not been offered a plea deal. Her trial will deal only with the sex-related charges, and she faces a second trial at a later date on the perjury case.
