Jeffrey Epstein ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell to be charged over sex abuse and exploitation of minors
Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell has bee arrested and faces charges over the sexual abuse and exploitation of multiple underage girls, prosecutors have announced.
The 58 year-old socialite and heiress was arrested by FBI agents in Bradford, New Hampshire at 8:30am EST on Thursday morning. A press conference detailing the six conspiracy charges she faces is set to take place at midday EST.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York tweeted: ‘There will be a press conference today at noon to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein.’
Maxwell, whose father Robert Maxwell was a famous newspaper tycoon, was a close confidante of Epstein and was accused of being involved in his alleged trafficking crimes for which he was due to stand trial for before his death.
Several of the women abused by the financier claimed Maxwell was responsible for ‘recruiting’ girls for him.
She became the subject of an FBI probe last year but her whereabouts remained unknown. The FBI have now confirmed was arrested at 8.30am in Bradford, New Hampshire, on Epstein-related charges, News 4 New York reports.
It is expected that she will face federal court later today, sources have said. Spokespeople for the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment.
Maxwell has continuously denied all allegations of wrong-doing against her. Before the death of Epstein in August last year, she had not been photographed in public since 2016.
Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, which included paying girls under the age of 18 to perform sex acts at his Manhattan and Florida mansions. His death was ruled as suicide by officials.
He had previously been convicted of prostitution charges involving a minor in Florida in 2008 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Maxwell has repeatedly been accused of helping Epstein find girls to work for him. Former abuse victim Virginia Giuffre, who also claims she was made to have sex with Prince Andrew at the age of 17, told Newsnight last year that Maxwell had first offered her a job as a masseuse for Epstein.
She alleged that the couple then abused her from their very first encounter, with Maxwell later telling her she had to ‘do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey’ when she met the Duke of York in London.
Ms Giuffre claims she and Andrew danced together at Tramp nightclub, in London, before having sex in March 2001. The Prince has strongly denied the claims.
Previously Maxwell publicly denounced Ms Giuffre as a liar in response to the allegations, causing the victim to launch a defamation suit against her in 2015.
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