British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an ex-girlfriend of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has been charged in the US after being arrested by the FBI.
She is accused of assisting Epstein's abuse of minors by helping to recruit and groom victims known to be underage.
After being arrested in New Hampshire, she was brought to court and remanded in custody, for transfer to New York. Maxwell, 58, has previously denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged sexual misconduct.
Epstein died in prison on 10 August as he awaited, without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.
He was arrested last year in New York following allegations that he was running a network of underage girls - some as young as 14 - for sex. His death was determined to be suicide.

35 Years In Jail
If convicted she will face 35 years in jail. Five of the six charges brought against her each carry a sentence of five years with the sixth - transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity - punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Specifically, she is charged with- conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity
She is accused of grooming multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein. She allegedly attempted to befriend them by asking about their lives and families and then she and Epstein built the friendships by taking minor victims to the cinema or shopping.
Some of Epstein's alleged victims have accused Maxwell of bringing them into his circle to be sexually abused by him and his friends.
One told the BBC's Panorama that Maxwell "controlled the girls. She was like the Madam".
Victim Gives Abuse Details
Maxwell  sexually abused underage girls and joined Jeffrey Epstein in directing Virginia Roberts Giuffre to be sexually abused by others, Giuffre claimed in a cache of documents that has been unsealed in the US.
She “trained me as a sex slave”, Giuffre is quoted as saying.
Maxwell met Giuffre at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in south Florida, where the then teenager was working as a locker-room attendant.
The documents were part of now-settled civil litigation against the British socialite and include claims about her alleged involvement in the sex-trafficking scheme of Epstein, her longtime confidant and a convicted sex offender.
The documents stem from a 2015 civil action brought against Maxwell by Giuffre, who has claimed Maxwell lured her into Epstein’s orbit as a teenager under the guise of offering work as a masseuse.
She said the couple subsequently pressured her into having sex with numerous rich or notable men, including Prince Andrew, US politicians, wealthy entrepreneurs, a famous scientist, and a fashion designer.
Maxwell and all of the accused men have long denied those allegations.
The files include personal emails between Epstein and Maxwell, as well as information from a discussion between Giuffre and her lawyer.
“‘It is your contention that ‘Ghislaine Maxwell had sex with underage girls virtually every day when I was around her’, correct?” Giuffre was asked during a May 2016 deposition contained in this document cache.
“All right. With whom did Ghislaine Maxwell have sex in your presence?” she was asked.
“Well, there are a lot of girls that were involved. We weren’t on a first-name basis with each other. I wouldn’t be able to give you lists of names of girls. It was continuous,” Giuffre answered.
Shortly after saying Epstein’s US Virgin Islands estate was “a place where orgies were a constant thing that took place”, Giuffre said she “had to” perform oral sex on Maxwell, in Epstein’s presence by the pool.
When asked whom Maxwell directed her to have sex with, Giuffre said: “I’m going to continue to tell you that they both directed me to do it. It was part of my training. They both told me: ‘You’ve got tickets to go here. This is who you’re meeting, and this is what you’re doing.’

Who Is Maxwell
Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell, born 25 December 1961, is a French-British socialite, known for her association with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In 2020, she was charged with the crimes of enticement of minors and sex trafficking of children. She worked primarily for her father, the publishing fraudster Robert Maxwell, until his death in 1991 when she moved to the United States and became a close associate of Epstein.
Maxwell has faced persistent allegations of procuring and sexually trafficking underage girls for Epstein and others, charges she has denied.
Maxwell founded the self-described ocean-advocacy group The TerraMar Project in 2012. The organisation announced closure on 12 July 2019, a week after the sex trafficking charges brought by New York federal prosecutors against Epstein became public.[5] On 27 December 2019, Reuters reported that Maxwell was among those under FBI investigation for facilitating Epstein. After his arrest, Maxwell was in hiding, communicating with the courts only through her lawyers who, as of 30 January 2020, had refused to accept on her behalf service of three lawsuits against her.
The US Virgin Islands Department of Justice announced on 10 July 2020 that she was also under investigation in the Caribbean territory
Maxwell was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire by the FBI on 2 July 2020 and charged with enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children, and perjury. 
On 14 July 2020, a New York federal judge denied Maxwell bail after determining that her risks of fleeing "are simply too great". 

'Trafficking For Sex'
“They trafficked me to many people. And to be honest, there are people I could name, and then there are people that are just a blur. There was so much happening. “Maxwell brought me into the sex-trafficking industry. She’s the one who abused me on a regular basis.
The legal documents shed light on Maxwell and Epstein’s relationship. In one of the personal emails between Epstein and Maxwell, Epstein wrote on 25 January 2015: “You have done nothing wrong and I would urge you to start acting like it. “Go outside, head high, not as an escaping the convict. Go to parties. Deal with it.”
These emails also appear to contradict her lawyers’ claim that Maxwell had not had contact with Epstein for more than 10 years, which they said in making an argument for bail.
Some of the documents also relate to previous claims of Giuffre, such as the former US president Bill Clinton riding on Epstein’s plane, and allegations about the lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz, who had worked as Epstein’s attorney, has repeatedly denied misconduct.

Maxwell's Friends

Maxwell was a socialite and Epstein a hedge-fund manager who needed wealthy clients, and that meant a large part of their life consisted of party-hopping all over the world, attending benefits and being photographed at galas with people they may have known superficially, or simply just been in proximity to at the event—a list that includes everyone from Barbara Walters to Julianna Margulies, Elon Musk to Mick Jagger.
A posed group photo does not a relationship make, but it is a fascinating window into this twosome’s ability to gain access to everyone from politicians to celebrities and even royals. Also included in their list of friends are big names like President Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, former president Bill Clinton, Owner of Amazon Jeff Bezos, Model Naomi Campbell, Kevin Spacey and many film and other celebrities. 

Clinton Distances Himself
During questioning about Bill Clinton, the documents show Giuffre said she saw the former president on Epstein’s island. Representatives for Clinton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Clinton has distanced himself from Epstein, and in a 2019 statement a spokesperson said: “President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”
Epstein told Giuffre powerful people owed him favours, according to the documents. “Lots of people owed him favors from what he told me … That’s why I believe he does so many favors in the first place.”

Prince Andrew
Giuffre was also asked whether Prince Andrew – whom she has claimed she had sex with as a teenager at Epstein’s behest – would have information about the financier.
“He would know a lot of the truth,” she said.
In 2015, a judge struck out the material concerning Prince Andrew as “immaterial and impertinent”. He has vehemently denied allegations of misconduct.

Trump wishes Maxwell Well
Donald Trump’s press secretary has defended the president offering his good wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend who has been charged with procuring underage girls for sexual abuse.
During one of his coronavirus press briefings, the president had been asked on Tuesday if he thought Maxwell would “turn in powerful men” after she was arrested.
“I don’t know, I haven’t really been following it too much, I just wish her well frankly,” he said in reply.
“I have met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach and they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well.”

(Courtesy: Agencies/
The Guardian/ BBC)