Ghislaine Maxwell is secretly married, prosecutors say
Ghislaine Maxwell is secretly married but refuses to reveal the name of her spouse to FBI investigators, prosecutors said during a court proceeding.
Speaking in Maxwell’s bail hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors said she “declined” to identify her spouse to court officials.
The disclosure came as Maxwell pleaded not guilty via video link to federal charges accusing her of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of minor girls.
Maxwell’s lawyers requested her release on a US$5 million bond co-signed by six people, but she was ultimately denied bail.
“In addition to failing to describe in any way the absence of proposed co-signers of a bond, the defendant also makes no mention whatsoever about the financial circumstances or assets of her spouse whose … identity she declined to provide to pretrial services,” assistant US attorney Alison Moe told Manhattan federal judge Alison Nathan.
“There is no information about who will be co-signing this bond or their assets and no details whatsoever.”
Moe said Maxwell poses an “extreme” flight risk if released on bail, saying that she was evasive about the source of her wealth and used a fake identity to purchase the New Hampshire estate where she was arrested on July 2.
She was sent back to the Metropolitan Detention Center pending her trial, which is slated for July 12, 2021.
Maxwell, a long-time associate of Epstein, is charged in a 17-page indictment with four counts of conspiracy to entice minors into sex acts and two counts of perjury. She has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
The 58-year-old faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.