FBI officials were able to track down Ghislaine Maxwell using her cellphone data, a court filing revealed.
Maxwell, widely known as a confidante to the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, reportedly opened a mobile account under the name of “G Max” to communicate with her rumored husband Scott Borgerson, her sister, and one of her lawyers, according to the Daily Beast.
Maxwell, 59, is charged with conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually abuse underage girls, as well as perjury in depositions regarding Epstein. The British socialite was arrested in 2020 at her 156-acre remote hideaway in Bradford, New Hampshire, one day after a request was made for a search warrant to receive GPS and historical cell site data for Maxwell’s account, which had a northeastern Massachusetts area code.
Maxwell’s hideaway was in one square mile of her area code, but FBI officials weren’t sure which particular building she was living in.
The New Hampshire warrant allowed the FBI to use an investigative device that could broadcast signals to be received by Maxwell’s phone.
“Such a device may function in some respects like a cellular tower, except that it will not be connected to the cellular network and cannot be used by a cell phone to communicate with others,” the affidavit stated, adding that the device would not intercept her phone’s calls, texts, and other electronic communications and data.
Maxwell had been hiding out in a $1 million home she bought with cash in 2019, after Epstein’s death. Epstein died in his Manhattan prison cell, which was ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner.
Maxwell is detained in New York City ahead of her trial, which is expected to begin in July. She has been denied bail twice and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
