Ghislaine Maxwell seeks bail, denies helping Jeffrey Epstein
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jul 12, 2020
"Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein...."
In Friday's filing, Ms Maxwell said she "vigorously denies the charges" and meant to fight them.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested in the United States on July 2, 2020, by FBI officers investigating his sex crimes, multiple USA media outlets reported.
They are requesting that her personal recognizance bond be set at $5 million.
She said that she will require security guards to ensure her safety.
Epstein was found hanged last August 10 in jail at age 66, in a death ruled a suicide. Speculation about Epstein even reached the White House, after video surfaced of President Trump and the financier chatting at a Mar-a-Lago party in 1992.
Doe's attorney Robert Glassman told ABC News Thursday that "Ms. Maxwell is once again deflecting blame on the victims themselves for the significant role she played in causing the victims irreparable damage".
"Jane Doe was their first known victim and was subsequently abused by Epstein and Maxwell for years as a young girl, suffering unimaginable physical and psychological trauma and distress", her complaint alleges. She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her "absolute rubbish".
Friday's filing also raised several legal challenges to the indictment, including that Mr Epstein's 2007 non-prosecution agreement with the United States government covered "any potential co-conspirators".
She was arrested by federal agents last week at a $1 million estate she had purchased in New Hampshire. According to Guiffre, she was introduced to Prince Andrew by Maxwell.
Prosecutors said she made "intentional efforts to avoid detection including moving locations at least twice, switching her primary phone number (which she registered under the name "G Max") and email address, and ordering packages for delivery with a different person listed on the shipping label".
Maxwell's lawyers pointed out in her request to be released on bail that on the day after Epstein's arrest in early July previous year, "Maxwell reached out to the prosecutors in the Southern District of NY, through counsel, and maintained regular contact with them right up to the point of her arrest".
Epstein was initially jailed for 18 months in 2008 after being allowed to plead guilty to a single charge of soliciting sex from a child prostitute, despite at one stage facing a 53-page Federal Bureau of Investigation indictment.
"Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein", her attorneys wrote.
Maxwell also participated in some of the abuse and lied about her conduct when questioned under oath in 2016 in a lawsuit, the indictment said.
