Ghislaine Maxwell has agreed to fully cooperate with FBI as 'she'll snap' in jail, claims Epstein's mentor
Steven Hoffenberg, a former friend and employer of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell will struggle to cope with the "tough and hard" life behind bars and will "snap" immediately. Maxwell, a confidante and former girlfriend of Epstein, was accused of being complicit in his sex crimes and was arrested by the FBI on Thursday, July 2. Two senior law enforcement officials confirmed that the British socialite and heiress had been arrested in New Hampshire on sex trafficking-ring charges. The daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell is believed to have recruited and groomed young girls for sex with Epstein and his powerful friends and is now facing prison.
Hoffenberg, who had hired Epstein as a consultant for his Towers Financial Corporation, which later imploded as one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history, said Maxwell "was not the type who can survive behind bars." "She's definitely someone who I understand quite well, I’m able to articulate how she feels right now, the tragedy she’s involved in now is horrible," he told the Sun. "If they keep her in prison, she’ll crack in two seconds."
Maxwell will be "fully cooperating" with the FBI in its child sex probe and some of the world’s most powerful people, including Prince Andrew, maybe "very worried," Epstein’s former mentor has claimed. "It’s very painful, the suffering is enormous, I believe she’s already agreed to fully cooperate, which means her incarceration would be much more comfortable," he added.
"She's not able to take that sort of cruel punishment, prison is too tough and hard, she’ll have to be in solitary confinement, and she’ll snap," he continued. "She takes everything deeply, down in her emotional capacity, and this is an emotional tragedy."
Hoffenberg, of course, is speaking from experience. After Towers Financial Corporation was outed as a Ponzi scheme – it lost its investors somewhere to the tune of $450 million – he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, tax evasion and obstruction of justice, and was sentenced to 20 years. Meanwhile, Epstein, who he insisted was intimately involved in the fraud, walked free. He, however, went on to serve three-and-a-half years in solitary, which he said "would break Maxwell". "I know the confinement and I know how hard it is for people to adjust, it’s too painful, very psychologically painful, and she’ll never be able to take it," he said. "I was in solitary for three and a half years because I did legal work for the inmates against the prison officials. It was retaliation."
It's not a surprising take considering Maxwell went to "extreme lengths" to stay under the radar and avoid capture following Epstein's 'suicide.' The multimillionaire financier, who was arrested in July last year on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York, was found dead in his jail cell a month later under suspicious circumstances.
In the aftermath of his death, she bought a home worth around $1million in New Hampshire, registered a new phone number under the name 'G Max,' and used a fake name to have packages delivered to her. Investigators also said she had three passports and regularly moved money between 15 different bank accounts.
Her arrest, Hoffenberg said, was likely to pose problems for Andrew, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes but resigned from his royal duties after their connection emerged.
He said that the FBI was aware of Maxwell's whereabouts this entire time but that Andrew's lack of cooperation in the matter was not going to reflect poorly on him. "Andrew handled it poorly, very poorly, he should have spoken to them through his lawyers, and given them some guidance," he claimed. "He should have given them something. She’s going to co-operate and be very important. Andrew may be very concerned, and there’s a lot of people very worried, a lot of powerful people been named ªin the scandalº, and she knows everything ."