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Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell is being held without bail for now.
Maxwell, 58, was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire on Thursday before appearing in a federal court via teleconference.
During the appearance, Maxwell waived her right to seek bond.
The U.S. Marshals Service was to take custody of Maxwell and would transport her to New York for a detention hearing, federal Magistrate Judge Andrea Johnson said.
The timing for the transfer wasn’t clear.
Ghislaine Maxwell, longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, speaks at a news conference on oceans and sustainable development at the United Nations in New York on June 25, 2013, in this screengrab taken from United Nations TV file footage. (UNTV/Handout via Reuters)Requests for information sent to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons weren’t immediately returned.
Prosecutors said in a memo filed with the court that Maxwell “poses an extreme risk of flight” and should be held without bail.
Maxwell faces 35 years in prison and the government has a strong case against her, prosecutors argued, meaning she has incentive to try to flee if released before a trial.
“That risk is only amplified by the defendant’s extensive international ties, her citizenship in two foreign countries, her wealth, and her lack of meaningful ties to the United States,” they wrote, noting that Maxwell has three passports, large sums of money, and extensive connections outside the country.
Maxwell’s arrest was the first of an associate of Epstein’s, a convicted sex offender who was accused of molesting dozens of underage girls and running a sex trafficking operation.
Epstein was arrested last year but was found unconscious in his prison cell in Manhattan before he could face charges. A medical examiner determined he committed suicide.
Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein in New York City on July 2, 2020. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)Charges against Maxwell included enticing a minor to travel to engage in sexual activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and perjury.
Prosecutors said Maxwell and Epstein from 1994 through 1997 exploited girls as young as 14.
Maxwell played a critical role in the grooming and abuse of minor victims in a number of locations, including New York, New Mexico, and Florida, prosecutors alleged.
“Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, and then delivered them into the trap that she and Jeffrey Epstein had set. She pretended to be a woman they could trust. All the while, she was setting them up to be abused sexually by Epstein and, in some cases, Maxwell herself,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, who just took over the position from Geoffrey Berman, said in a statement.
Maxwell is also accused of making several false statements in sworn depositions in 2016.
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