Ghislaine Maxwell Denied Bail in Sex-Trafficking Case Due to Flight Risk

Ghislaine Maxwell was ordered to remain in custody while she awaits trial on charges that she recruited underage girls for sexual abuse by her longtime friend, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan denied the British socialite’s request for bail at a hearing in the case Tuesday in New York. Maxwell, 58, who also pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charges, has been in federal custody since she was arrested July 2 at her secluded estate in Bradford, New Hampshire.

The judge said there was a “substantial actual risk” that Maxwell would flee the country ahead of trial based on her “extraordinary” financial resources and international connections. Nathan concluded that “no conditions of release,” including bond, home detention and a GPS tracker, could reasonably assure Maxwell would show up for trial.

Maxwell will have another year behind bars before her trial, which the judge set for July 12, 2021. That may bring added pressure on her to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

The hearing took place remotely, with Maxwell appearing before Nathan through a remote hookup from a Brooklyn jail. Dressed in brownish inmate fatigues, Maxwell had her hair pulled back into what appeared to be a bun and addressed the judge softly and politely. She was impassive as prosecutors arguing against bail described her as a “predator.”

Annie Farmer, one of the alleged victims, appeared to argue against bail, saying she would feel unsafe if Maxwell were released.

“If she is out, I need to be protected,” said Farmer, who also appeared in court last year after Epstein’s arrest and said he posed a danger to her and the community.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe said there was an “extreme” risk Maxwell would flee ahead of trial because of her access to bank accounts holding more than $20 million and her possession of citizenship in France, which has a policy of not extraditing dual citizens. Moe said Maxwell might have additional undisclosed financial resources, noting that her lavish lifestyle didn’t “make sense” based on her reported assets.

Maxwell’s lawyer Mark Cohen countered that she wouldn’t flee the U.S. because she has a tight-knit family in the country and many friends. He said “she’s not the monster” that the government has portrayed her as. Cohen also pointed out that even Bernie Madoff was at one point permitted bail and home detention.

According to the defense, Maxwell has lived in the U.S. since 1991, became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and remained in the country after Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking charges last July. They said Maxwell was willing to submit to house arrest and electronic monitoring and there were six people -- including two sisters who live in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens -- willing to guarantee her bond.

Maxwell would also be at risk of contracting the coronavirus in jail, her lawyers claimed.

Facing six charges, Maxwell is accused of luring at least three girls as young as 14 into Epstein’s orbit between 1994 and 1997. Federal prosecutors said she undressed in front of the girls and was sometimes present during sexual encounters, helping to “normalize” Epstein’s abuse. She’s also charged with perjury over testimony she gave in previous lawsuits denying knowledge of Epstein’s conduct.

Maxwell’s lawyers have said they plan to mount “significant challenges” to the government’s case. They say it’s barred by Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, which covers “any potential co-conspirators.”

Prosecutors say she could get 35 years if convicted. Her lawyers say a more likely sentence is about 10 years.

Epstein was denied bail after he was charged with trafficking children for sex between 2002 and 2005. He died in jail last August in an apparent suicide before he could stand trial.

Maxwell has been in hiding since Epstein was arrested, prosecutors claim. She was living so secretively, they say, that a team of former British military guarded her around-the-clock, and even tried to hide when FBI agents went to her New Hampshire estate to arrest her. After they broke down the front door, agents later found a mobile phone wrapped in tin foil in what the government called “a seemingly misguided attempt to evade detection.”

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