New York: On Friday, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, forcefully denied charges that she lured underage girls for him to sexually abuse. She added that she deserves bail since she might contract coronavirus in jail.
Maxwell, 58, filed her request in the US District Court in Manhattan, eight days after being arrested in New Hampshire. Authorities informed that she had been hiding at a sprawling property she bought while shielding her identity.
A spokesman for Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan denied commenting.
Maxwell has been housed since Monday at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a Brooklyn jail.
She said that her detention there put her at “significant risk” of contracting the virus, since 55 inmates and staff had tested positive for COVID-19 through June 30.
Maxwell faces six criminal charges, including four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts, and two for perjury in depositions about her role in Epstein‘s abuses.
In Friday’s filing, Maxwell said she “vigorously denies the charges” and intends to fight them.
Her arraignment is on July 14, and prosecutors want her detained until trial. Maxwell is the daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell.
August 10, Epstein, 66 years-old, hanged himself in the jail.
Before his arrest, he socialised with several prominent figures including Britain’s Prince Andrew, US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
Media crush
Maxwell‘s proposed bail package includes a $5 million bond, the surrender of her passports, “stringent” travel restrictions and home detention with electronic monitoring.
She said that she will require security guards to ensure her safety.
Maxwell also maintained that she is not a flight risk, emphasising the fact that she has remained in the United States since Epstein‘s arrest.
She “did not flee, but rather left the public eye, for the entirely understandable purpose of protecting herself and those close to her from the crush of media and online attention and its very real harms,” the filing said.
Moreover, Friday’s filing raised several legal challenges to the indictment, including Epstein‘s 2007 nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. government which covered “any potential co-conspirators.”
Prosecutors sought maximum detention for Maxwell since she might flee to avoid the possible long-term sentence. They called her an “extreme risk” of flight because of her resources, multiple passports, citizenships and no incentive to stay in the country.
The case is US vs Maxwell, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No 20-cr-00330.
(Reuters)