English socialite Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday was arrested and charged with sex trafficking minors for late financier Jeffrey Epstein, the latest twist in a dramatic scandal that has embroiled the British royal family.
Maxwell, whose whereabouts had been unknown following the suicide of her former boyfriend Epstein in August last year while awaiting trial, faces six counts relating to his sex crimes.
FBI agents and New York police detained the daughter of late newspaper baron Robert Maxwell “without incident” in Bradford, New Hampshire.
Photo: Reuters / UNTV
She later appeared before a local magistrate via a videoconference that was broadcast to journalists and the public.
The judge ordered her held in temporary detention pending transfer to the Southern District of New York, where she faces charges that include conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
She is also charged with transportation of minors for criminal sexual activity and perjury for allegedly lying under oath during a 2016 civil suit filed against her by one of Epstein’s alleged victims.
Prosecutors allege that Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14 between 1994 and 1997.
She allegedly befriended them, then coaxed them into giving Epstein nude massages during which they were sexually abused.
She faces an effective life sentence if found guilty.
Epstein, 66, was arrested in July last year. He hanged himself in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors for sex. He had pleaded not guilty.
Maxwell is a long-time friend of Britain’s Prince Andrew and is known to have introduced him to Epstein.
US prosecutors want to speak to the prince about that relationship, but say he is uncooperative. Andrew denies that.
“We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us, we would like to have the benefit of his statement,” Acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said.
Andrew, 60, vehemently denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein.
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