US federal prosecutors have redoubled their efforts to oppose attempts by Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and suspected associate of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, to be released on bail, arguing that she could potentially attempt to flee justice. They added that Maxwell doesn't have a right to special treatment over concerns she could contract COVID-19 in jail.
"Because there is no set of conditions short of incarceration that can reasonably assure the defendant's appearance, the government urges the court to detain her", the federal prosecutors said.
The prosecutors went on to stress that the upcoming hearing in Maxwell's case on 14 July will be attended by at least one of the late sex trafficker’s victims and added that if the socialite flees on bail, the victims could be "denied justice".
Maxwell was hiding for nearly a year from American law enforcement, but her lawyers claim she was only trying to escape media attention. In a recent court filing, however, federal prosecutors revealed the details of the socialite's arrest, saying that she fled to another room "quickly shutting a door behind her" upon seeing the FBI raiding her home in New Hampshire on 2 July.
The FBI eventually breached the room and detained Maxwell. They also found her phone wrapped in tin foil, which, as the prosecutors suggested, was an attempt at hiding from law enforcements, albeit a futile one.
Maxwell is accused of four counts related to the sex trafficking of underage girls in cooperation with late financier Jeffrey Epstein in the 1990s and two counts of perjury. The socialite denies engaging in sex trafficking with Epstein, who was arrested last year but didn't make it to trial, committing suicide in his cell under suspicious circumstances – the financier was taken off suicide watch and not monitored by guards, as required, while all the video records of the night wound up being unreadable or were accidentally destroyed, making it hard to check if any foul play took place.