Ghislaine Maxwell must live with guards 24/7 in NY pad to prevent suicide, escape if granted $30M bail: Report
Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers have reportedly sourced a house in New York where she can stay if granted a $30 million bail. The disgraced media heiress will be with guards 24/7 to prevent the risk of suicide.
Maxwell is currently being held on child sex grooming charges linked to billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The British socialite has requested a judge to free her on bond so she can be surrounded by friends and loved ones, The Sun reported.
Tech entrepreneur Scott Borgerson, who is believed to be her husband, is rumored to be putting up almost $25 million as security. The couple would have to forfeit that amount should Maxwell escape custody. Meanwhile, her siblings -- including brothers Kevin and Ian Maxwell -- have reportedly committed to posting a further $4.6 million in bail guarantees.
Maxwell, who was once Epstein's "madam" and "confidante," reportedly wants to be released from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre so she can stay under house arrest in New York City. She has also agreed to wear an electronic tag and is also willing to forfeit any right to prevent her extradition to France -- considering she has French, British, as well as American passports.
Beyond that, a private security company tasked with surveillance would lose an additional $1 million if Maxwell escapes or commits suicide. “The security company is willing to say that they risk their whole reputation – and $1million – on the fact that Ms. Maxwell is not going to get past them," a source told The Sun. “The judge’s issue is that they want her alive for trial – so her legal team is hiring specialist security guards to keep her alive. The house would have to be secure inside and out and someone would have to be with her virtually 24-hours-a-day. $30million (£22.5million) is the ballpark figure for the bond. Maxwell’s lawyers have done everything they can to shut down every argument the judge made against jail.”
However, the insider rated Maxwell's bail chances at only five percent -- owing to New York Judge Alison Nathan's tough stance against the socialite thus far. Nathan is scheduled to rule on Maxwell's bail bid on December 21.
Some in Maxwell's inner circle have accused authorities of “demonizing” her to cover “incompetence and embarrassment” over the mysterious death of her one-time boyfriend Epstein, who is said to have killed himself in jail while facing child sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, who is accused of procuring young girls for the pedophile financier and taking part in the abuse herself, is currently being held in a detention center in Brooklyn. She is in effective solitary confinement inside a 9ft by 7ft cell. According to her lawyers, she is subject to checks every 15 minutes -- even during her sleep -- and has lost 15 lbs in weight. “The state has reverse-engineered the whole case, to mask its failure," Brian Basham, a family friend of Maxwell’s, bemoaned. “There was no indication that Ghislaine was in the frame at all whilst Epstein was alive.”
According to The Sun, Maxwell's bail application is the first public acknowledgment that she is married. A prosecutor said in July that the heiress had refused to provide information about the identity or assets of her previously known spouse. However, she is now going public with her financial disclosures for bail, which name Scott Borgerson.