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The FBI has arrested this Thursday morning in New Hampshire Ghislaine Maxwell, the friend and collaborator of financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sexual exploitation of minors and who committed suicide in prison almost a year ago. Maxwell, 58, is accused of collaborating in the plot of abuse and sex trafficking with young people and girls attributed to Epstein, a well-connected New York millionaire, who included among his acquaintances the president of the United States, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew or former President Bill Clinton.
The daughter of British publishing mogul Robert Maxwell had already been singled out when the case broke out by various Epstein whistleblowers as a sort of madame of the millionaire and his friends, the person who was in charge of recruiting, fixing and exploiting the girls in the mansions of Florida and New York, among others. According to some reports, Epstein’s friend sought out girls in financial distress and promised to help them with their education and careers. However, they had not led to formal charges until now.
The federal indictment, made public this Thursday by the court for the southern district of New York, attributes six crimes: one of inciting minors to travel to participate in sexual acts, another of transporting minors for the purpose of sexual acts, two of conspiracy and two of perjury. The grand jury that has investigated the case establishes that at least three times between 1994 and 1997, the British celebrity would have captured minors for Epstein, some even 14 years old, establishing friendship with them, taking them to the movies or shops, and introducing conversations that help “normalize” sexual abuse.
To avoid resistance among the minors, Maxwell was present in some of these episodes. “Maxwell’s presence in interactions between Epstein and the minors, including those in which the minor was undressed or engaged in sexual acts, relaxed the victims because there was an adult woman present,” the indictment states. On some occasion he undressed before them so that they would not see so strange doing the same with the financier. In another, in 1996 in New Mexico, the woman massaged a woman under 18 years of age, who was naked from the waist up, and invited her to do the same with him. He also encouraged the girls to accept financial help from the financier, which made them feel indebted.
In documents filed with the New York court a year ago, the former employees explained that Maxwell was in charge of organizing the parties and meetings and handling all the logistics. In an article published in Vanity Fair in 2003, Epstein came to refer to her as “his best friend.” He will appear this Thursday before the judge, according to judicial sources informed Reuters.
Ghislaine Maxwell was born in Paris in 1961, raised in the cream of British society and trained at Oxford University. His powerful father, owner of the publishing group of The Mirror, died in 1991 by drowning during a trip with his yacht in the waters of the Canary Islands. The death was declared accidental, but all kinds of speculation arose in the heat of the debts that were discovered and his past: he had stolen more than 400 million pounds from the pension fund of his employees and worked for the KGB. She then moved to New York, where she met Epstein and they became thick and thin.
The financier was arrested on July 6 of last year. Epstein, who was then 66 years old, had already pleaded guilty in 2008 to similar charges, but reached an agreement with the prosecution. This time, he was not spared. On the same day of the arrest, several FBI agents entered the magnate’s New York mansion, near Central Park, and found in the safe a CD with hundreds of photos of his victims, some completely naked. On the walls of the house, he displayed hanging photos of influential figures close to the billionaire such as Bill Clinton or Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salmán. The suicide, by hanging, caused all sorts of speculation, as he had been on surveillance for suicide risk after a first incident, but later returned to a unit without special prevention equipment. He was facing 45 years in jail.
One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused Maxwell of having arranged a sexual encounter between her and Prince Andrew of England in London, and presented a photograph of the two as proof that they met.
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