Updated Tuesday 1o:57 a.m.:
Jeffrey Epstein’s accused accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is due in court on Tuesday in New York City. Her attorneys are expected to ask that Maxwell is granted $5 million bail, while prosecutors will argue that the 58-year-old British socialite is a flight risk who should remain in custody until her trial on six counts accusing her of recruiting minors into Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring.
As the New York Post reports, Judge Alison Nathan will preside over the hearing, and some of Epstein’s alleged victims are expected to be present in court, to support the prosecutor’s argument that the wealthy defendant remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
Earlier story:
Attorneys representing accused Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell have reportedly admitted that Maxwell intentionally went off the grid — but to hide from intrusive media, not law enforcement.
The New York Post obtained court filings made by Maxwell’s attorneys on Friday, in which the lawyers argue that Epstein’s longtime gal pal, who has been accused of participating in and facilitating the sexual abuse of minors, should be released on $5 million bail.
Prosecutors have reportedly argued that Maxwell is a serious flight risk, given her wealth, connections, and multi-citizenship. Her attorneys have insisted that Maxwell was not trying to evade prosecution, but rather constant media badgering, when she moved into a luxury hideaway in New Hampshire. Maxwell’s defense lawyers submitted their response Friday to a memo from prosecutors recommending that Maxwell be held without bail until her trial.
“Ever since Epstein’s arrest, Ms. Maxwell has been at the center of a crushing onslaught of press articles, television specials, and social media posts painting her in the most damning light possible and prejudging her guilt,” the lawyers wrote, according to the New York Post.
“She has seen helicopters flying over her home and reporters hiding in the bushes,” the attorneys said, insisting that Maxwell was not on the lam but desperate for privacy when she purchased a million-dollar, 156-acre compound in Bradford, New Hampshire this, past December. She shielded her identity by purchasing the property through an anonymous LLC, Town & Country reports. Maxwell was arrested there by federal agents on July 2.
“Ms. Maxwell did not take these steps to hide from law enforcement or evade prosecution,” the lawyers wrote. “Instead, they were necessary measures that Ms. Maxwell was forced to take to protect herself, her family members, her friends and colleagues, and their children, from unrelenting and intrusive media coverage, threats, and irreparable reputational harm.”
Maxwell is due in court for a bail hearing on Tuesday, July 14.
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[Feature image: Ghislaine Maxwell in 1991/AP Photo,Dominique Mollard, File and Jeffrey Epstein/New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File]
