Ghislaine Maxwell hit with two additional charges in sex trafficking case
Additional charges accuse former confidante of Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor
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Your support makes all the difference.Federal prosecutors have filed two additional charges against Ghislaine Maxwell in their sex trafficking case against the British socialite, who stands accused of grooming young women and girls for her late friend Jeffrey Epstein.
The new filing from prosecutors in the Southern District of New York on Monday accuses Ms Maxwell of sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor.
Monday’s superseding indictment extends the timeline of Ms Maxwell’s alleged involvement in Epstein’s abuse of young women to 2004, and adds another alleged victim, “Minor Victim-4.” The previous indictment only dealt with events from 1994 to 1997.
“Between approximately in or about 1994 and in or about 2004, Ghislaine Maxwell, the defendant, facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s access to minor victims by, among other things, inducing and enticing, and aiding and abetting the inducement and enticement of, multiple minor victims. Victims were groomed and/or abused at multiple locations,” Monday’s filings allege.
“The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,” the documents state.
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Ms Maxwell has denied all charges against her, pleading not guilty. She is awaiting trial in a New York prison. That trial date has been provisionally scheduled for 12 July 2021.
Ms Maxwell, 59, the daughter of the late media baron Robert Maxwell, has been denied bail ahead of her trial after a judge ruled that she represented a flight risk.
Epstein died by suicide while in Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking.
The disgraced former financier had previously pleaded guilty in Florida to paying an underage girl to perform sexual acts.
The cases against both Epstein and Ms Maxwell have garnered considerable attention given the high-powered social circles they ran in.
One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has claimed she was taken to one of Ms Maxwell’s former properties in 2001 to have sex with the UK’s Prince Andrew when she was 17.
A now-infamous photograph of the Duke of York with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist is said to have been taken in Ms Maxwell’s London home. Prince Andrew has categorically denied any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre and told BBC’s Newsnight the photo may have been faked.
Mr Epstein also rubbed elbows at various points with former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
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