Ghislaine Maxwell ‘will be naming names’: Jeffrey Epstein’s arrested ‘pimp’ is ‘set to cooperate with FBI’ in ominous news for Prince Andrew and she could be held in prison where pedophile ‘killed himself. fo
Ghislaine Maxwell will be ‘naming names’ and ‘fully co-operating’ with the FBI and Prince Andrew is among those ‘very worried’ about what she might reveal, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed.
Maxwell’s dramatic arrest on sex-trafficking charges yesterday has raised hopes among Epstein victims that prosecutors will untangle a ‘spider web’ of rich and powerful associates of the pair.
The socialite and daughter of late British publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell was seized at a $1million home in New Hampshire and later appeared in court by video-link. It is unclear who she was there with.
A mystery British technology entrepreneur is said to have helped her buy the home through an LLC in December. On Thursday, journalists reported seeing a man on the grounds with a British accent but it is unclear if he is the same person who helped Maxwell purchase the property.
She is now awaiting transfer to New York to face charges of procuring girls as young as 14 for Epstein to sexually abuse – and could even be held in the same Manhattan jail where Epstein died last year.
If convicted on all counts, Maxwell faces 35 years behind bars at a maximum. It would mean she’d be 93 by the time she’d be released.
The latest twist in the case has ramped up the pressure on Andrew to testify about his relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, but sources close to the Duke say they are ‘bewildered’ because he has repeatedly offered to help.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the Epstein accuser who dragged Andrew into the mire by claiming she had sex with him in the early 2000s, last night celebrated Maxwell’s arrest and called her an ‘insidious creature’ who deserved to be locked up. Andrew denies her allegations, saying he has no recollection of meeting Miss Roberts.
Ghislaine Maxwell will be ‘naming names’ and ‘fully co-operating’ with the FBI and Prince Andrew is among those ‘very worried’ about what she might reveal, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed (Epstein and Maxwell are pictured together in New York in 2005)
Prince Andrew (pictured during his BBC Newsnight interview last year) is under increasing pressure to give evidence – but the Duke’s legal team insists he has offered to help US investigators
Speaking to The Sun, Epstein’s former employer Steven Hoffenberg said the paedophile’s ex-girlfriend Maxwell ‘knows everything’ and will ‘totally co-operate’ after her arrest.
Hoffenberg, a convicted fraudster who employed Epstein at Towers Financial in the 1980s, said ‘there’s a lot of people very worried’ about what Maxwell could reveal. ‘She’s going to cooperate and be very important. Andrew is definitely, definitely concerned,’ Hoffenberg said.
On Thursday, a source close to the Duke of York’s legal team told DailyMail.com that he was ‘bewildered’ by prosecutors’ remarks that they wanted to speak to him.
‘The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month and to-date, we have had no response.’
On Thursday, Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss said the investigation into Epstein’s decades of abuse is ongoing and that she’d ‘welcome’ Prince Andrew ‘coming in to provide a statement’, prompting speculation that he may among people investigators may focus their attention on next.
‘We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us. We would like to have the benefit of his statement. Our doors remain open. We would welcome him coming in and giving us an opportunity to hear his statement,’ she said.
It opens the door to questions of jurisdiction and whether or not US Attorney Strauss may charge for alleged incidents that happened in London and not America. Among the claims in the indictment is that Maxwell groomed one of the victims in London. At her press conference, Strauss said some of the sexual abuse also happened at Maxwell’s house in London.
US attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents one of Maxwell’s accusers, said ‘all others accused of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s predations must immediately be brought to justice as well’.
‘Maxwell’s brutal, ruthless behaviour caused my client tremendous pain,’ Ms Bloom said in a statement, adding that she and her client applauded the socialite’s ‘long overdue arrest’.
One Epstein accuser, Michelle Licata, has previously voiced hopes that prosecutors looking into Epstein were ‘going to start digging into his life… and start pulling out this spider web of people that were related to it’, according to the New York Post.
Former federal prosecutor Jessica Roth told Bloomberg: ‘There is no way for prosecutors to present a case against her without going into all the evidence they had against Epstein, because the charges here are intertwined.
‘The original indictment against Jeffrey Epstein made it clear that he didn’t act alone and that the government had evidence that other people were also involved.’
Celebrating Maxwell’s arrest, Prince Andrew’s accuser, Roberts said last night: ‘Thank you to the FBI, Southern District of New York and anyone involved in the arrest of this insidious creature. Hope the judge throws the book at her. So so so happy- she’s finally where she belongs.’
The 36-year-old’s claims against Andrew are not part of the charges against Maxwell and a judge ordered them struck from court records in a separate case in 2015, without ruling on their veracity.
However, Miss Roberts is relevant to the charges because Maxwell is accused of perjury by claiming during a lawsuit against her in 2016 that she had no involvement in procuring underage girls.
Maxwell was picked up by the FBI and NYPD detectives at 8.30am at the property in Bradford, New Hampshire, she had bought in December 2019 using a limited liability company called Granite LLC to shield her name
Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, gestures as she speaks during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, July 2, 2020, in New York
Speaking to The Sun, Epstein’s former employer Steven Hoffenberg said the paedophile’s ex-girlfriend Maxwell ‘knows everything’ and will ‘totally co-operate’ after her arrest.
Hoffenberg, a convicted fraudster who employed Epstein at Towers Financial in the 1980s, said ‘there’s a lot of people very worried’ about what Maxwell could reveal. ‘She’s going to cooperate and be very important. Andrew is definitely, definitely concerned,’ Hoffenberg said.
On Thursday, a source close to the Duke of York’s legal team told DailyMail.com that he was ‘bewildered’ by prosecutors’ remarks that they wanted to speak to him.
‘The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month and to-date, we have had no response.’
On Thursday, Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss said the investigation into Epstein’s decades of abuse is ongoing and that she’d ‘welcome’ Prince Andrew ‘coming in to provide a statement’, prompting speculation that he may among people investigators may focus their attention on next.
‘We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us. We would like to have the benefit of his statement. Our doors remain open. We would welcome him coming in and giving us an opportunity to hear his statement,’ she said.
It opens the door to questions of jurisdiction and whether or not US Attorney Strauss may charge for alleged incidents that happened in London and not America. Among the claims in the indictment is that Maxwell groomed one of the victims in London. At her press conference, Strauss said some of the sexual abuse also happened at Maxwell’s house in London.
US attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents one of Maxwell’s accusers, said ‘all others accused of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s predations must immediately be brought to justice as well’.
‘Maxwell’s brutal, ruthless behaviour caused my client tremendous pain,’ Ms Bloom said in a statement, adding that she and her client applauded the socialite’s ‘long overdue arrest’.
One Epstein accuser, Michelle Licata, has previously voiced hopes that prosecutors looking into Epstein were ‘going to start digging into his life… and start pulling out this spider web of people that were related to it’, according to the New York Post.
Former federal prosecutor Jessica Roth told Bloomberg: ‘There is no way for prosecutors to present a case against her without going into all the evidence they had against Epstein, because the charges here are intertwined.
‘The original indictment against Jeffrey Epstein made it clear that he didn’t act alone and that the government had evidence that other people were also involved.’
Celebrating Maxwell’s arrest, Prince Andrew’s accuser, Roberts said last night: ‘Thank you to the FBI, Southern District of New York and anyone involved in the arrest of this insidious creature. Hope the judge throws the book at her. So so so happy- she’s finally where she belongs.’
The 36-year-old’s claims against Andrew are not part of the charges against Maxwell and a judge ordered them struck from court records in a separate case in 2015, without ruling on their veracity.
However, Miss Roberts is relevant to the charges because Maxwell is accused of perjury by claiming during a lawsuit against her in 2016 that she had no involvement in procuring underage girls.
Maxwell was picked up by the FBI and NYPD detectives at 8.30am at the property in Bradford, New Hampshire, she had bought in December 2019 using a limited liability company called Granite LLC to shield her name
Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, gestures as she speaks during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, July 2, 2020, in New York
Maxwell was taken into custody yesterday morning in Bradford, a small town in New Hampshire, on Thursday morning. Special Agent William Sweeney said at a press conference later that the FBI had been ‘discreetly keeping tabs’ on her for some time and that she recently moved to the property.
Maxwell is believed to have bought the 156-acre property with cash, using an LLC to hide her identity, in December. Agents ‘moved in’ yesterday morning. No other circumstances surrounding her arrest are known.
According to a memo filed in court on Thursday asking for a judge to deny her bail, Maxwell changed her phone number and her email address. She registered a new phone number under the name ‘G Max’, and used a different, unspecified fake name to have packages delivered to her, it is claimed.
She also moved money between 15 different bank accounts, the total balance of which has varied from hundreds of thousands of dollars to $20million over the last few years, according to investigators. In one case, she moved $500,000 from one account to another.
Before that, between 2007 and 2011, more than $20million was allegedly transferred from bank accounts linked to Epstein into accounts linked to Maxwell, and then back again.
The prosecutors point to the fact that Maxwell has three passports – British, French and American – and say her high-flying, international lifestyle makes her a major flight risk. They say she has made at least 15 flights in the last three years to countries including the UK, Japan and Qatar.
Prosecutors claim she ‘made intentional efforts to avoid detection’ during the last year, including moving locations at least twice, and say her ‘transient’ lifestyle means she would have no reason to remain in the US if freed.
In a video-link court appearance on Thursday afternoon, her attorneys agreed to have the case moved to the Southern District of New York – where she is being charged.
There was confusion at the start of the call when a woman with a British accent was heard repeatedly asking ‘what the f**k’ and saying ‘I don’t understand’.
She became increasingly upset and had to be reminded to mute her line.
The woman is not thought to have been Maxwell though. She spoke later to answer the judge’s questions and was calm in her one word answers.
Journalists could not see her but they were permitted to dial in to listen to the proceedings.
Prosecutors asked the judge to deny her bail, saying she is a flight risk with an international network of friends and access to unlimited resources. She has been held for now without bail and is likely to appear in court in New York City either tomorrow or on Monday.
It is unclear where she will now be detained before her next court appearance but the judge said she would be ‘temporarily’ placed in custody. If she is moved to New York she could be held in the same Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan where Epstein died last August.
A grand jury returned a sealed, six-count indictment against her on June 29, almost a year after Epstein was charged.
Maxwell, who has yet to enter a plea, faces 35 years in prison if convicted. She has previously denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
The indictment reads in part: ‘Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s access to minor victims knowing that he had a sexual preference for underage girls and that he intended to engage in sexual activity with those victims’.
Among the allegations in the indictment is that Maxwell groomed the girls, including one in London.
‘Victim 1’ met Maxwell when she was 14 in 1994, the indictment reads.
Maxwell allegedly groomed her by taking her to the movies and on shopping trips, asking her about school, her classes, her family and other aspects of her life.
‘She then sought to normalize inappropriate and abusive conduct by, among other things, undressing in front of her and being present when she undressed in front of Epstein,’ according to the indictment.
The trio then engaged in ‘group sexualised massages’ on more than one occasion, the indictment claims. The victim was allegedly encouraged by Epstein and Maxwell to travel to the financier’s homes in New York and Florida ‘for the purpose of sexual encounters with Epstein’.
‘Victim 2’ met Ghislaine in 1996 and was allegedly groomed by her at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.
The indictment claims that Maxwell gave her a topless massage and ‘encouraged [her] to massage Epstein’.
‘Victim 3’ met Maxwell in London in 1994 and was groomed until 1995, it is alleged. Maxwell encouraged her to massage Epstein ‘knowing that Epstein would engage in sex acts’ as she did so, prosecutors claim.
The indictment alleges that Maxwell knew the three women were underage at the time.
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Acting US Attorney for the Southern District Audrey Strauss, said: ‘Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them.
‘She pretended to be a woman they could trust, all the while she was setting them up to be sexually abused by Epstein in some cases, by Maxwell herself.
‘Today after many years, Ghislaine Maxwell finally stands charged for her role in these crimes.’
FBI Special Agent William Sweeney said the bureau had been ‘keeping tabs’ on Maxwell ‘for some time’.
‘We have been discreetly keeping tabs on Maxwell for some time.
‘She slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire, continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims continue to live with the trauma inflicted on them years earlier.’
Before Epstein’s disgrace, she and Maxwell had an astonishing network of influential and important friends and acquaintances around the world, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Maxwell was photographed at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding and she also flew with Clinton on Epstein’s private jet, dubbed the ‘Lolita Express’ because it was used to ferry young girls to his private Caribbean island or ranch in New Mexico.
She has also been photographed with Epstein and Donald and Melania Trump at parties, years before Epstein became a social pariah.
