Ghislaine Maxwell, the frequent traveling companion of Jeffrey Epstein who allegedly procured underage girls for the wealthy pedophile who died in prison last year, and his network, was arrested in New Hampshire on Thursday, the FBI said.
Maxwell, a British socialite and heiress, “assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse” girls under age 18, according to an indictment made public on Thursday.
The six-count indictment in Manhattan federal court alleges that Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14, going back as far as 1994. She faces up to 35 years in prison.
An excerpt published in the New York Post from the new book "A Convenient Death", claims Maxwell had an affair with former President Bill Clinton. Clinton was a friend of Epstein and took several flights aboard the pedophile's so-called "Lolita Express" airplane.
One Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, claimed that Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew at her London townhouse.
The Guardian noted that Andrew has known Maxwell, the daughter of the late London newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, by his own account since she was at Oxford University. They were, he has said, “close friends”. It was Maxwell who introduced him to Epstein in 1999.
According to an Evening Standard report, in 2001 Andrew and Maxwell went on a number of trips together, including to Florida and Thailand, with claims Epstein joined them on occasion.
"This case against Ghislaine Maxwell is the prequel to the earlier case we brought against Jeffrey Epstein," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said at a news conference on the indictment.
The FBI said that it had been tracking Maxwell's movements for some time, though she was not indicted until June 29.
The indictment included counts of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury.
Reuters reported in December that the FBI was investigating Maxwell, who has long been suspected of procuring underage girls for Epstein, earning the nickname of the wealthy pedophile's “madam.”
Maxwell was described in a lawsuit by another Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome, as the “highest-ranking employee” of Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking enterprise. She oversaw and trained recruiters, developed recruiting plans and helped conceal the activity from law enforcement, the lawsuit alleged.
It is possible, depending on a bail ruling and other factors, that Maxwell could be held in the same New York City facility where Epstein died, law enforcement sources said. Prosecutors called her a serious flight risk and asked that she be held pending trial.
"In short, Maxwell has three passports, large sums of money, extensive international connections, and absolutely no reason to stay in the United States and face the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence," prosecutors said in a filing Thursday.
Breitbart News noted:
Epstein — who had once run in elite circles, flying celebrities and politicians to his private domain dubbed “Lolita Island” — was convicted in 2008 for soliciting an underage prostitute, a 14-year-old girl. However, his brief sentence allowed for 72 hours of “work release” every week. After many years of simmering complaints regarding his light plea deal, federal prosecutors charged Epstein on additional counts of sex trafficking of minors. Months later, he died in prison, setting off a flurry of debate over whether his untimely death was a suicide or murder.
Free Press International
