British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, a longtime associate of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, was transported by U.S. Marshals Monday to a New York detention center to face federal sex-trafficking charges. File photo by Rick Bajornas/EPA-EFE/RICK
July 6 (UPI) -- Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate of accused child sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein, was transported Monday under custody of U.S. Marshals to a federal detention facility in Brooklyn ahead of a bond hearing later this week.
The British heiress was arrested Thursday at her home in Bradford, N.H., on charges that she conspired with Epstein to traffic minors over state lines and sexually abuse underage girls. She did not enter a plea in her initial hearing in New Hampshire.
Maxwell, 58, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She will appear at a bail hearing in the Southern District of New York, where she will likely enter a plea.
Prosecutors said Maxwell helped Jeffrey Epstein sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls as young as 14 years old from 1994 to 1997. She faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.
The case against Maxwell deals with the time before charges brought against Epstein in July 2019 for actions allegedly committed in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005.
Epstein killed himself in his New York federal detention center jail cell in August 2019 after pleading not guilty. Eleven years earlier, he was convicted of using an underage girl as a prostitute in Florida and served a 13-month sentence.
Prosecutors allege that Maxwell used her position with Epstein to "groom" underage girls for Epstein and his high-powered clients by taking them shopping and to see movies. Prosecutors allege Maxwell also abused at least three of the girls herself. Maxwell is also accused of lying to investigators.
Maxwell was arrested at her million-dollar luxury home on a secluded 156-acre estate in New Hampshire.
Maxwell is the daughter of the late British media figure Robert Maxwell and was frequently photographed with Epstein in a high-profile social life among leading figures in politics and the arts.
