Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in court as fresh details of arrest emerge | US news | The Guardian

Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in court as fresh details of arrest emerge | US news | The Guardian

Ghislaine Maxwell

Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in court as fresh details of arrest emerge

More than 20 armed officers said to have taken part in raid leading to her detention at rural New Hampshire retreat

Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent

 @owenbowcott

Sun 5 Jul 2020 10.47 EDTLast modified on Sun 5 Jul 2020 16.40 EDT

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 Ghislaine Maxwell in 2013 in New York. New York prosecutors have said they will oppose any bail application on the grounds she is a flight risk. Photograph: Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan/Getty

Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of grooming underage victims for sexual abuse by the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, is scheduled to appear in a New York court this week as fresh details emerge of her arrest in an FBI raid.

More than 20 armed agents and police are reported to have taken part in the early-morning operation on Thursday that led to her being handcuffed at her secluded, rural retreat in New Hampshire and taken into custody.

Officers were said to have broken down the front door at the 156-acre property, which is called Tucked Away. Her arrest ended almost a year of speculation over her whereabouts following the death of Epstein in a New York jail last summer; some reports had suggested she was in Los Angeles, others that she had moved to Paris.

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Maxwell, 58, a close friend of Prince Andrew, is being held in Merrimack County jail, New Hampshire. She is due to be transferred to New York and brought to court later this week.

The youngest child of the publisher Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine faces six charges including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and perjury.

If convicted, she could face up to 35 years in prison. She has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

New York prosecutors, who led the investigation, have said they will oppose any bail application on the grounds that Maxwell may flee. Her lawyers are expected to argue that she enjoys immunity under a previous deal Epstein made with prosecutors in Florida and that the charges against her are out of time and consequently barred by the US statute of limitations.

Over the weekend, pictures emerged of Ghislaine Maxwell and the American actor Kevin Spacey sitting on thrones belonging to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during a visit to Buckingham Palace in 2002.

Maxwell is a close friend of Prince Andrew, who visited Epstein at his homes in New York and elsewhere. The prince has been accused of having sex with a girl provided by Epstein, Virginia Giuffre, when she was 17 – a claim he categorically denies.

In an interview with Australia’s Channel Nine 60 Minutes programme on Sunday, Giuffre said Prince Andrew “should be panicking” following the arrest of Maxwell.

“Ghislaine doesn’t really care about anyone else but Ghislaine,” she added.

US prosecutors are understood to have sent the UK Home Office a formal request for mutual legal assistance over the case, which could lead to Prince Andrew being summoned to attend court to answer questions about his knowledge of the claims.

On Sunday, the Home Office again declined to confirm whether there had been a formal approach. A spokesperson said: “As a matter of longstanding policy and practice, we neither confirm nor deny the existence of mutual legal assistance requests.”

Lawyers for the Duke of York last month issued a statement accusing US investigators of misleading the public and breaching their own confidentiality rules in their handling of the inquiry. They said three offers of help volunteered by the prince had been rejected. His lawyers declined to make any further comment on Sunday.

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Laura Goldman, a former investment banker friend of Maxwell, said at the weekend she believed Maxwell would “never” disclose information about the Duke of York. Goldman, who said she had known Maxwell since she moved to the US, told BBC Radio she would “have to” go for a plea deal with prosecutors.

Goldman added: “[Ghislaine] has always told me she would never, ever say anything about [Prince Andrew]. I think she felt he was her friend and she was never going to say anything about him.”

Goldman said she last spoke to Maxwell “a couple of weeks ago”, adding: “She knew she was coming to the end of the road.” Maxwell, she said, was a victim of Epstein and was always “a little afraid” of him.

Geoffrey Berman, the New York attorney who led the investigation into Epstein and also into some of Donald Trump’s associates, was sacked by the president last month, adding a further political dimension to the saga. On Tuesday, Berman is due to give evidence to a congressional judiciary committee in a session that may reveal more about the investigation.

British victims of Epstein have yet to come forward, according to a US lawyer for a compensation fund to help those who were abused. Jordana Feldman, the architect of the programme, said: “We believe there are victims yet to come forward around the world, including in the UK.”

Jill Greenfield, head of personal injury at the London-based law firm Fieldfisher, said: “I am working with the victims’ fund to ensure that the confidentiality of the UK victims that is built into this process is sufficient to protect them. This is particularly important given that UK victims of sexual assault are granted automatic anonymity, which is not automatic in the US.”