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Ghislaine Maxwell: The missing woman who may hold the key
to resolving Epstein's crimes
Epstein's longtime associate's whereabouts remain a mystery - but there is no doubt that her legal challenges are mounting
Epstein's longtime associate's whereabouts remain a mystery - but there is no doubt that her legal challenges are mounting
After Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent suicide in a New
York City jail cell, the public’s focus has shifted towards his
alleged chief co-conspirator - the British
socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of the accused
child sex trafficker.
Of all the questions her
involvement with Epstein has raised, one is particularly pressing for
investigators: where is she?
“Right now, everything
depends on Maxwell,” Ambrosio Rodriguez, a criminal defence attorney and
former sex crimes prosecutor, told The Independent.
“The public at large may not know her whereabouts, but I can guarantee you the
FBI knows exactly where she is.”
On Wednesday, one of
Epstein’s accusers filed a lawsuit against Ms Maxwell, alleging she conspired
with members of the disgraced financier’s household staff “to make possible and
otherwise facilitate the sexual abuse and rape” the alleged victim said she
experienced in 2002 aged 15.
And a source familiar
with the criminal investigation into Epstein told The Independent that federal prosecutors were looking
at names mentioned in connection to his crimes, which would include Ms Maxwell.
But they have reportedly
faced challenges in locating the 57-year-old Briton, who has been accused of
procuring young girls for his sexual pleasure, something she has repeatedly and
forcefully denied. Ms Maxwell has never been charged with any crimes and has
previously denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
In 2016 she was sued for defamation by one of Epstein’s
alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, for calling allegations against her “obvious
lies”. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Ms Giuffre had
said that she was groomed from the age of 15 by Ms Maxwell and forced to have
sex with Epstein and several powerful men, all of whom have denied the
allegations.
Ms Maxwell has virtually
removed herself from the public eye since then. She was living in London two
years ago with no fixed address, her lawyers told a judge in 2017. This
week Vanity Fair wrote about rumours that she has been
living in Florida or “living the high life in London or the Continent”, while
the Daily Mail said she was staying in a sprawling
oceanfront property in Massachusetts with her supposed tech CEO boyfriend Scott
Borgerson. Mr Borgerson immediately denied those reports. A friend told the Daily Beast they thought she was in France.
On Thursday the New York Post published a photograph of her sitting in a burger bar which
it said had been taken in Los
Angeles a few days earlier. It said she told the fellow
customer who took it: "Well, I guess this
is the last time I'll be eating here."
If Ms Maxwell or other
alleged co-conspirators were living abroad, experts said her extradition to the
United States in the event of her being charged with a criminal offence would
be the next challenge.
“Federal prosecutors are
very accustomed to dealing with this problem of a defendant who is not in the
country,” said Deborah Tuerkheimer, a former assistant district attorney in
Manhattan.
“In a case of such
importance, and when there’s so much on the line, it would not be surprising at
all for federal prosecutors to do everything in their power to secure the
attendance of an alleged co-conspirator.”
Regardless of her
whereabouts, Ms Maxwell’s legal troubles are mounting in the wake of Epstein’s
death.
"Today is my first step
towards reclaiming my power," Jennifer
Araoz said during a phone call with reporters after filing the lawsuit against
Ms Maxwell, Epstein’s estate and three unnamed female staff members. "Jeffrey Epstein and his network of enablers stole
from me … They robbed me of my youth, my identity, my innocence, my self-worth.
For too long, they escaped accountability. I am here today because I intend to
change that."
Ms Araoz’s lawyer, Dan
Kaiser, described those who surrounded Epstein as “adult enablers,” telling NBC
News: “Adults closely within Epstein's orbit — they are all culpable. … They
shared with each other connections and resources to keep these crimes concealed.”
In a statement, Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman described the apparent suicide as “yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in court”.
But he added: “Our
investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment — which included a
conspiracy count — remains ongoing.”
Former sex crimes
prosecutors said the indictment makes clear that Epstein was not working alone.
The charging document said several members of his apparent inner circle helped
procure his victims, later offering them money and other favours.
“Epstein wouldn’t be able
to exist without Maxwell,” Mr Rodriguez said. “Every successful pimp
relies on a woman to recruit other women. That is part and parcel with these
type of crimes.”
A controversial
non-prosecution agreement Epstein made in 2007 could make it difficult to
charge his alleged co-conspirators. That deal included a clause that would
prevent the investigation or prosecution of any of his
alleged accomplices. Politicians, including the Republican senator Ben Sasse,
have now called on the attorney general to nullify the agreement.
The Southern District of
New York had already managed to get around the terms of that secretive deal
when it charged Epstein earlier this year, however. Experts said the same could
likely be done in order to charge anyone else involved in that agreement.
“If they were able to go
after Epstein I’m assuming that a court agreed with their interpretation of the
agreement and, based on the prosecution of Epstein, I see no reason that others
would not fall into that category of prosecutable offences,” Ms Tuerkheimer
said.
Still, an indictment does
not always lead to a conviction.
“The credibility of the
accusers will be really important,” she added. “Very often the victims of child
sexual abuse are chosen, targeted and groomed because they’re especially
vulnerable, and those vulnerabilities make it very difficult for people to
testify at trial, make them susceptible to attacks on cross examination, and often make it difficult for people
to believe their stories.”
Prior to the allegations
surrounding her and Epstein going public, Ms Maxwell lived a privileged life.
She enjoyed a wealthy childhood as the daughter of the Czech-born British media
mogul and one-time MP Robert Maxwell, whose plundering of the Mirror Group’s
pension fund made him one of the most notorious corporate villains of modern
times. He died in an apparent suicide after falling from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, off the Canary Islands in 1991.
Ms Maxwell was educated
at Oxford University, and worked in newspapers and real estate, before meeting
Epstein in New York in the early 1990s and becoming a prominent socialite. She
also founded a charity to help preserve the oceans called the TerraMar Project,
which closed this year amid the controversy over Epstein.
For now, the location of
Ms Maxwell — and what comes next in terms of her legal fate — remains shrouded
in mystery. Top US officials have vowed to answer those questions in the days
ahead.
“Let me assure you that
this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein,”
attorney general William Barr said this week while criticising “serious
irregularities” at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York where
Epstein was apparently allowed to take his life.
“Any co-conspirators
should not rest easy,” he added. “The victims deserve
justice, and we will ensure they get it.
Attorneys for Ms Maxwell
did not return multiple requests for comment.
Link originale: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/where-is-ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-suicide-conspirator-lawsuit-a9059041.html
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