- Title: Judge denies bail to Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell
- Date: 14th July 2020
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 14, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR SHOTS OF METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER (MDC)
- Embargoed: 28th July 2020 21:13
- Keywords: Ghislaine Maxwell Jeffrey Epstein arraignment court prison
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA002CMS90SN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A U.S. judge on Tuesday (July 14) rejected bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime associate, who has been charged with luring young girls so the late financier could sexually abuse them.
Prosecutors have accused Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls as young as 14 from 1994 to 1997 and lying about her role in depositions in 2016.
Maxwell, 58, appeared by video from the Brooklyn jail where she is being held. She appeared tired, with her hair pulled back, and was wearing a brown T-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses. She pleaded not guilty to six criminal charges, including four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts, and two for perjury.
Annie Farmer, who has accused Maxwell of enabling her abuse, said during the hearing that the defendant "has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes" and told the court "the danger Maxwell poses must be taken seriously."
"She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women," Farmer told the court.
"Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not have done what he did," an unidentified accuser added in a statement.
Maxwell's lawyers had sought a bail package including a $5 million bond and home confinement with electronic monitoring.
"The defendant has the ability to live in hiding, she's good at it," Alison Moe, a federal prosecutor, said in arguing against bail.
Moe added that Maxwell has demonstrated she can "live off the grid, indefinitely." Moe said it took a year after Epstein's arrest to find Maxwell. Prosecutors said her wealth and multiple citizenships - American, French and British - also supported the need for continued detention.
Maxwell was arrested on July 2 in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said she was hiding out at a 156-acre (63 hectares) property she bought last December in an all-cash transaction with her identity shielded.
Lawyers for Maxwell said she moved there, and changed her phone and email address, to escape "unrelenting and intrusive media coverage."
But prosecutors said on Monday (July 13) that when FBI agents went to arrest Maxwell, they had to forcibly enter her home, where she hid in an interior room, and found a cellphone wrapped in tin foil in an apparent effort to evade detection.
Maxwell also used former British military personnel to guard her in New Hampshire, prosecutors said.
Maxwell has been held since July 6 at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a Brooklyn jail, and attended the hearing via video conference.
Epstein was charged last July with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He hanged himself last Aug. 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail.
Maxwell, who faces 35 years in prison if convicted goes on trial on July 12, 2021.
(Production: Soren Larson, Catherine Koppel) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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