Financier and sex-trafficking offender Jeffrey Epstein's friend and confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on Thursday, as reported by The New York Times. She was charged on six counts including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex activities and perjury.
In the indictment filed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for the case "United States of America v. Ghislaine Maxwell," four of the six counts involve conspiracy to entice minors or transport minors to engage in sexual activity.
Many of the charges highlight Maxwell's relationship with Epstein between 1994 and 1997. The first charge of "Conspiracy to Entice Minors to Travel to Engage in Illegal Sex Acts" focuses on Maxwell's means to aid Epstein. "MAXWELL assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to MAXWELL and Epstein to be under the age of 18 . The victims were as young as 14 years old they were groomed and abused by MAXWELL and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18," the indictment stated.
In this count, the grand jury found that Maxwell "befriend[ed]" victims as well as "tr[ied] to normalize sexual abuse for a minor victim" by engaging in sexual conversation with the victims and being present during Epstein's interactions with victims and helping convince victims to travel with Epstein.
The indictment names incidents with three minor victims. "Through this process, MAXWELL and Epstein enticed victims to engage in sexual activity with Epstein. In some instances, MAXWELL was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims," the indictment states.
The second count is for "Enticement of a Minor to Travel to Engage in Illegal Sex Acts," which focuses on an interaction with the first minor victim. "MAXWELL persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced Minor Victim-1 to travel from Florida to New York, New York on multiple occasions with the intention that Minor Victim-1 would engage in one or more sex acts with Jeffrey Epstein, in violation of New York Penal Law, Section 130.55," the indictment stated.
The third count Maxwell was tried on was "Conspiracy to Transport Minors with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity." The charge highlights travel between three of Epstein's victims from Florida to New York, New Mexico, and London, England. The indictment states that Maxwell played a part in convincing the underage girls to travel knowing Epstein's intents to sexually abuse the victim, to provide massages to Epstein (again knowing Epstein's intents), or providing victims with unsolicited massages while topless.
The fourth charge was for the "Transportation of a Minor with Intent to Engage in a Criminal Sexual Activity." The count says that Maxwell "knowingly did transport an individual who had not attained the age of 18 in interstate and foreign commerce, with the intent that the individual engage in sexual activity."
The final two charges were both for perjury. The first count of perjury states that Maxwell knowingly made a false claim in April 2016, when asked if Epstein had a scheme recruiting underage girls for sexual massages. Maxwell responded, "I don't know what you're talking about."
The second perjury charge said that Maxwell gave false testimony in July 2016, saying that she did not know that Epstein was having sexual interactions with anyone other than herself, that she was unaware of sex toys and sexual devices in Epstein's possession, and that she did not give anyone a massage including Epstein and one of the victims.
Maxwell's lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca did not respond to Newsweek's emailed request for comment in time for publication.
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