Ghislaine Maxwell

Ex-Epstein Pal Maxwell Seeks Bail with $28.5M, Armed Guards at NYC Residence

The lawyers said Maxwell and her spouse were offering a $22.5 million personal recognizance bond secured by about $8 million in property and $500,000 in cash, along with $5 million from close family and friends

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Lawyers for the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein are urging a judge to free her to await trial under a $28.5 million bail package that would include armed guards to keep her in a New York City residence and protect her safety.

The bail arguments on behalf of Ghislaine Maxwell were filed under seal last Tuesday, but were publicly filed late Monday with redactions in Manhattan federal court that were approved by Judge Alison J. Nathan.

The lawyers said Maxwell and her spouse, with whom she has been living for the past four years, were offering a $22.5 million personal recognizance bond secured by about $8 million in property and $500,000 in cash. They said $22.5 million represents all of Maxwell and her spouse’s assets.

The spouse was not identified in court papers. The identities of seven other close friends and family members who the lawyers said were willing to pledge about $5 million of their own assets toward the bail package were also not revealed. They also said she would have electronic monitoring.

Maxwell is scheduled to face a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s.

Her first attempt at bail shortly after her July arrest was rejected.

The longtime friend and confidante of Jeffrey Epstein offered many denials as part of hundreds of pages of a deposition from a civil lawsuit, which was made public Thursday. She also denied having any role in recruiting or exploiting young girls. NBC New York's Jonathan Dienst reports.

“Ms. Maxwell vehemently maintains her innocence and is committed to defending herself,” the lawyers wrote. “She wants nothing more than to remain in this country to fight the allegations against her, which are based on the uncorroborated testimony of a handful of witnesses about events that took place over 25 years ago.”

To support the bail request, the lawyers included a letter from Maxwell’s spouse. They said the letter tells how Ms. Maxwell was forced to leave her family and drop out of public view, not because she was eluding law enforcement, but because of “the intense media frenzy and threats following the arrest and death of Jeffrey Epstein.”

Epstein killed himself in a federal Manhattan lockup in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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