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Maxwell's day in court is not for another year. ANYTHING can happen between now and then – and probably will.
Ghislaine Maxwell breaks down in tears as she is DENIED bail and must stay locked up until her July 2021 trial as judge rules Epstein's 'madam' has shown 'sophistication in hiding her finances AND herself and poses significant flight risk'
- Ghislaine Maxwell cried as she was denied bail on Tuesday, with a judge ruling she must stay locked up until her trial in July of 2021
- The British socialite, 58, pleaded not guilty to the sex trafficking charges brought against her
- She hung her head as she learned her fate, wearing a prison-issued brown top and with her normally short hair now long and swept back into a bun
- Judge Alison Nathan ruled Maxwell was a significant flight risk, citing her 'substantial international' ties and 'extraordinary financial resources'
- Maxwell appeared via video, accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997
- She had offered a $5 million bond co-signed by two of her sisters and backed up by more than $3.75 million in property in the UK
- Prosecutors fought for no bail, presenting evidence that she is 'skilled at living in hiding', citing her three passports and claimed she is worth more than $10M
- They said Maxwell refused to open the front door to the FBI and tried to flee to another room when they raided her $1 million home on July 2
- A victim also argued she was a flight risk and wrote: 'Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey couldn't have done what he did. She is a predator and a monster'
15 July, 2020
Ghislaine Maxwell cried as she was denied bail on Tuesday and learned she must stay locked up until her trial next summer, as Jeffrey Epstein's accused madam pleaded not guilty to the sex trafficking charges brought against her.
The 58-year-old wiped tears away and hung her head as she learned her fate, wearing a prison-issued brown top and with her normally short hair now long and swept back into a bun, appearing via video link.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan denied Maxwell's proposal of a $5 million bond co-signed by two of her sisters and backed up by more than $3.75 million in property in the UK.
Maxwell's legal team had argued she would be confined to a 'luxury hotel' in the New York area, surrender all her travel documents and be subject to GPS monitoring.
But Judge Nathan ruled the British socialite was a significant flight risk, citing her 'substantial international' ties and 'extraordinary financial resources', setting an anticipated trial date for July 12, 2021.
Maxwell is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997, a period when she was his girlfriend.
She faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty of the charges, as prosecutors successfully argued that along with her three passports, connections to some of the world's most powerful people and her own fortune of more than $10 million - Maxwell had every incentive to try and flee.
Maxwell will now return to the fortress-like Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where she has been given paper clothes to ensure she doesn't kill herself.
But Judge Nathan ruled the British socialite was a significant flight risk, citing her 'substantial international' ties and 'extraordinary financial resources', setting an anticipated trial date for July 12, 2021
Maxwell is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997, a period when she was his girlfriend. She faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty of the charges, as prosecutors successfully argued that along with her three passports, connections to some of the world's most powerful people and her own fortune of more than $10 million - Maxwell had every incentive to try and flee
Maxwell is currently in custody in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (pictured) where she is wearing paper clothes to ensure she doesn't kill herself
Maxwell is being closely watched as the Department of Justice wants to ensure she does not kill herself like Epstein, who hanged himself last August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
During the two hour and 20 minute hearing at Manhattan’s Federal Court, Maxwell appeared via video from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The small room she was in had white walls, a white bed, a window with frosted glass and a door at the back.
She was wearing a dark brown prison issued top and her dark hair was far longer than in the past - she reportedly has not had a haircut in a year - and was swept behind her head in a bun.
At the start of the hearing, Maxwell rested her elbows on a table in front of the camera and put her head on her hands.
She appeared nervous and pensive and kept looking from side to side, as she leaned into the camera.
Maxwell briefly spoke and only to confirm she could hear the judge and to enter her plea by saying: ‘Not guilty, your honor’.
Her demeanor changed when prosecutor Alison Moe began outlining the allegations against her, sitting back in her chair and bowing her head when Moe accused her of ‘sexual abuse of minors’.
With every allegation, Maxwell either scratched her face or moved her hair, but was emotionless as victim impact statements were read aloud.
It wasn’t until Judge Nathan started reading her decision that Maxwell finally broke down. She began moving uneasily in her chair as the judge said the evidence against her was ‘strong’.
When Judge Nathan said a ‘combination of factors’ showed she had the ‘motive and opportunity’ to flee before her trial, Maxwell wiped a tear away.
The second tear fell as the judge said Maxwell was ‘sophisticated at hiding her financial resources’.
During the two hour and 20 minute hearing at Manhattan’s Federal Court, Maxwell appeared via video from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She was wearing a dark brown prison issue top and her dark hair was far longer than in the past - she reportedly has not had a haircut in a year - and was swept behind her head in a bun
It wasn’t until Judge Nathan began reading her decision that Maxwell finally broke down. She began moving uneasily in her chair as the judge said the evidence against her was ‘strong’. When Judge Nathan said a ‘combination of factors’ showed she had the ‘motive and opportunity’ to flee before her trial, Maxwell wiped a tear away
For the rest of the decision, Maxwell rested her head in her hands as she had done at the start of the hearing.
Maxwell sat though prosecutors detailing how she was 'skilled at living in hiding' and as two victims argued she was a flight risk, with one writing: 'Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey couldn't have done what he did. She is a predator and a monster.'
Prosecutors argued against Maxwell being granted bail, citing that due to holding both French and British passports, she has the ability to 'live beyond the reach of extradition indefinitely'.
Prosecutor Moe argued: 'She is good at living under an assumed identity. There really can be no question that she can live in hiding.'
She revealed when Maxwell bought her $1 million home in Bradford, New Hampshire last December, she toured the property with a real estate agent using an alias.
Moe said: 'The real estate agent told the FBI agent the buyers for the house introduced themselves as Scott and Janet Marshall. Both had British accents.
'Scott Marshall told her he was retired from the British military and was currently working on a book. Janet Marshall described herself as a journalist.'
Last summer, DailyMail.com previously tracked down Maxwell in Manchester-by-the-Sea, living at a home owned by her tech CEO lover Scott Borgerson. It is unclear if the man who toured the New Hampshire home with Maxwell was Borgerson.
Moe also read out a victim impact statement from a woman identified as Jane Doe, who also made the case that Maxwell was a flight risk.
Victim Annie Farmer (pictured) also spoke at the hearing, detailing how she met Maxwell when she was 16 years old. Farmer has previously gone on record with her claims against Maxwell
Prosecutor Allison Moe said when Maxwell bought her $1 million Bradford, New Hampshire home (pictured), she toured the home back in November of 2019 using the alias of Janet Marshall and claimed to the real estate agent that she worked as a journalist
The victim said she knew Maxwell for 10 years and the socialite intended to 'deliver' her to Epstein, all the while knowing the 'heinous dehumanization that awaited me'.
The woman claimed Maxwell 'was in charge' and 'egged' Epstein on.
She described Maxwell as 'sociopathic' and said she would 'have done anything to get what she wanted - to satisfy Jeffrey Epstein'.
The victim added that 'if [Maxwell] is out, I need to be protected', citing a phone call she received in the middle of the night threatening her two-year-old child.
Annie Farmer also spoke at the hearing, detailing how she met Maxwell when she was 16 years old. Farmer has previously gone on record with her claims against Maxwell.
She said Maxwell 'has never shown any remorse [and] tormented her survivors... She has associates across the globe, some of great means.'
Maxwell's attorney Mark Cohen tried to argue his client was not a flight risk, claiming she has community ties and is 'part of a very large and close family'.
He said: 'Our client is not Jeffrey Epstein, and she has been the target of endless media spin', leading prosecutor Moe to later shoot back: 'These are the facts. It is not dirt, it is not spin, it is evidence to the court.'
Cohen claimed Maxwell had received numerous threats and denied she had refused to open her front door to the FBI when they raided her home on July 2.
He claimed her front door was unlocked, the windows were open and she had 'surrendered' to the agents.
Addressing reports that Maxwell had wrapped her mobile phone in tin foil, which prosecutors called a 'seemingly misguided effort to evade detection' by law enforcement, Cohen claimed her phone had been hacked and she had to preserve the phone as evidence.
LEGAL TEAM: Pictured l-r: Jeffrey S. Pagliuca,Christian R Everdell, Laura A. Menninger and Mark Cohen. In their filings to the court Maxwell's lawyers had argued that she is at increased risk of catching the coronavirus whilst in prison. They claim that the restrictions on access to her lawyers caused by the pandemic would mean it was impossible for her to get a fair trial
Also on the case is (l-r) Alex Rossmiller, Alison Moe and Maurene Comey, James Comey's daughter
Pictured: Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss speaks during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell
Cohen went above the issue of Maxwell being a flight risk to complain that the charges against her are from 25 years ago, calling the indictment 'an effort to dance around' the controversial non-prosecution sweetheart deal Epstein and his associates received in Florida in 2007.
With her bail now denied, Maxwell will return to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Journalists had started lining up outside the federal court in downtown Manhattan at 6am to get a seat inside the courtroom.
They were allowed in at 11.45am and had to stand 6ft apart while they waited to ensure social distancing.
The hearing took place in the jury assembly room which normally has space for hundreds of people but had a dramatically reduced capacity of just 60 due to the coronavirus.
A dial-in phone line allowed 1,000 more people to listen in - the capacity was increased from 500 due to world-wide interest.
Inside the room there were two projector screens, which showed the proceedings live.
All parties, including the judge, appeared remotely and no one was physically in court.
Although DailyMail.com tracked her down to the New England coast last summer, she vanished again, later popping up in a photo at an In-N-Out in Los Angeles.
The FBI managed to finally trace her down in the quiet and rural town of Bradford, New Hampshire earlier this month, where she had been living since December.
Officials said her conduct during the 8.30am raid at the property called 'Tuckedaway' was 'troubling'.
They wrote that when the FBI arrived they were confronted by a locked gate which they forced their way through.
The filing said: 'As the agents approached the front door to the main house, they announced themselves as FBI agents and directed the defendant to open the door.
'Through a window, the agents saw the defendant ignore the direction to open the door and, instead, try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her. Agents were ultimately forced to breach the door in order to enter the house to arrest the defendant, who was found in an interior room in the house.
'Moreover, as the agents conducted a security sweep of the house, they also noticed a cell phone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk, a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection, not by the press or public, which of course would have no ability to trace her phone or intercept her communications, but by law enforcement'.
After Maxwell, the daughter of late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, was arrested the FBI spoke to a security guard who worked on the property who said that her brother had hired him from a company staffed with former British military soldiers.
The filing states: 'The guard informed the FBI that the defendant had not left the property during his time working there, and that instead, the guard was sent to make purchases for the property using the credit card. As these facts make plain, there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding'.
In their filings to the court Maxwell's lawyers had argued that she is at increased risk of catching the coronavirus whilst in prison. So far there have only been five cases and no deaths at the prison.
They claim that the restrictions on access to her lawyers caused by the pandemic would mean it was impossible for her to get a fair trial.
The prosecutors said that in fact the prison had made substantial efforts to accommodate her and keep her safe.
The case against her is 'strong' and multiple victims have provided 'detailed, credible evidence of the defendant's criminal conduct' - with more women coming forward in the past week.
The victims have made clear they want Maxwell remanded in custody and say they were 'directly abused as a result of Ghislaine Maxwell's actions'.
The document states: 'While that conduct did take place a number of years ago, it is unsurprising that the victims have been unable to forget the defendant's predatory conduct after all this time, as traumatic childhood experiences often leave indelible marks.
'The recollections of the victims bear striking resemblances that corroborate each other and provide compelling proof of the defendant's active participation in a disturbing scheme to groom and sexually abuse minor girls'.
The prosecutors said that it was 'curious' that Maxwell claimed to have access to millions of dollars had not offered 'a single dime' as collateral for her bond.
They claimed that Maxwell's finances were 'completely opaque' and she had not even indicated which properties she would use for her bond.
Some of the co-signers are 'themselves so wealthy that it would be no financial burden whatsoever' if they lost their $5 million by Maxwell skipping bail, the document states.
Epstein's victims have long demanded Maxwell's arrest and lawyers for them say that a slew of new accusers have come forward since she was apprehended.
Prosecutors will likely be looking to do a plea deal with Maxwell to lighten some of the six charges against her, two of which are perjury for allegedly lying during depositions.
They will be questioning her about powerful men in Epstein's orbit including Bill Clinton with whom she flew on Epstein's private jet, called the 'Lolita Express', on a tour of Africa in 2002.
Maxwell was also good friends with Prince Andrew and one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Roberts, claims she was loaned out to the Duke three times for sex when she was 17.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8518247/Ghislaine-Maxwell-tried-flee-phone-wrapped-tin-foil-FBI-arrived-home.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12121257/ghislaine-maxwell-plead-not-guilty-journalist-jen-marshall-denied-bail/
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