Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime friend of and alleged co-conspirator with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was transferred to a New York City prison on Monday to await her own federal child sex trafficking charges.
“Yes, she is in BOP custody at MDC Brooklyn,” a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We decline to comment further.”
Maxwell, a 58-year-old British socialite, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday. Epstein, a registered sex offender, was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14. The 66-year-old was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August, which the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide.
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn is a federal facility holding more than 1,000 prisoners. The prison is different from the Metropolitan Correction Center in Lower Manhattan, where Epstein had been held until he died by suicide.
The arrest warrant and 18-page grand jury indictment against Maxwell revealed that she had been charged with conspiracy to entice minors, enticement of a minor, conspiracy to transport minors, transportation of a minor, and perjury.
Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan on Sunday night that the Justice Department and Maxwell’s defense team, led by attorney Christian Everdell, were in agreement about Maxwell’s arraignment, her initial appearance before the court, and her bail hearing being held this Friday in New York City.
The charging document said that “as a part and in furtherance of their scheme to abuse minor victims,” Maxwell and Epstein “enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residences in different states,” including Epstein’s New York City mansion, his Palm Beach estate, his New Mexico ranch, and Maxwell’s London apartment, and that Maxwell “knew and intended would result in their grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse” by Epstein.
“Maxwell was among Epstein’s associates and helped him exploit girls who were as young as 14 years old,” Strauss said during a Thursday press conference.
“Maxwell then tried to normalize the sexual abuse with the underage victims through a process known as grooming,” she continued. “Maxwell’s presence as an adult woman helped put the minor victims at ease.” The prosecutor added: “In some cases, Maxwell participated in the abuse herself.”
Virginia Giuffre, now 36, alleges Epstein and Maxwell helped exploit her when she was underage and accused Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom of forcing her to have sex with him at Maxwell’s home in London and at Epstein’s homes in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands when she was 17. Both Epstein and Andrew were longtime friends of Maxwell, and the Justice Department is seeking an interview with the British royal.
The whereabouts of Maxwell had been largely a mystery since Epstein’s death nearly a year ago. The youngest daughter of British publisher Robert Maxwell, she moved to New York after her father’s death in 1991 and became Epstein’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, eventually becoming his alleged right-hand woman.
Maxwell was arrested late last week in Bradford, New Hampshire, where she had been living on a large property that she had purchased in cash, and was being held at the medium-security Merrimack County jail until Monday while in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Maxwell was already presented before a U.S. magistrate judge in the District of New Hampshire, where she waived her right to an identity hearing, consented to detention without prejudice, agreed to make a later application for bail, and consented to be transferred to the Southern District of New York.
