Ian Maxwell, the brother of a British socialite convicted of conspiring with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls, says his sister has been subjected to inhumane treatment, The Telegraph reported.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the late tycoon’s “pimp”, has spent almost two years in solitary confinement since she was first arrested in New Hampshire in the US in July 2020.
The 60-year-old woman was only recently moved from isolation, where she was on round the clock suicide watch, into the general prison population that allows social visits.
Ian Maxwell confessed he was “not holding his breath” over the sentence to be soon handed down to his sister. He added that after the sentencing, Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team would launch an appeal against the conviction. Furthermore, his sister, Ian Maxwell said, will make an application to US authorities to be returned to the UK to serve the rest of her sentence.
Maxwell, a former girlfriend of the billionaire, was found guilty on 29 December of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by the late billionaire between 1994 and 2004 at his various properties. The daughter of Robert Maxwell, the late media tycoon, now faces sentencing on 28 June, with the prospect of spending up to 60 years in a US jail.
Her former associate, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, charged with running a sex trafficking network of minors in 2019, died in his Manhattan cell on 10 August that year while awaiting trial, having pleaded not guilty. His death was officially ruled a suicide.
Ian Maxwell flew from London to New York to visit his sister in jail, with the meeting slated for 12.30pm on 8 June. Previously cleared with the Metropolitan Detention Centre authorities, it would have been their first visit in more than two years.
However, Maxwell was turned away at the gates of the Brooklyn prison.
“I flew to New York on Tuesday, stayed the night in Brooklyn and then walked over to the prison on Wednesday, only to discover that the whole prison was in lockdown that had been imposed a few hours earlier”, Maxwell, 65, was cited as saying.
He said he had pleaded with the authorities to “make this visit happen”.
“The official put a call into the legal office and they said ‘no’”, he said, adding:
“If I had flown from the moon, it would not have made any difference. They were not going to change. They wouldn’t even allow me a video call or a phone call. The whole place was shutdown. I was later told there was some incident on the male wing but, because the prison is treated as one unit, the whole jail was shut down”.
Since being moved out of isolation, Maxwell has been granted one single visit from a family member - her sister Isabel went to see her on 19 April. Officially, prison rules allow Ghislaine Maxwell one visitor a week on Wednesdays.
“In two years, this girl has had one family visit. It is unreal. It is really horrible. It is inhuman. For me, it’s just tiring. I flew 6,000 miles for no reason. But for her, it’s just terrible. I am just angry at the way it has worked out. I feel very sorry for Ghislaine”, Ian Maxwell said.
Ever since Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested, her family has accused US authorities of making the woman a scapegoat for failing to bring Jeffery Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-profile ties, to trial.