Ghislaine Maxwell bought million-dollar home in cash, used fake name, hid $20M across 15 accounts to evade FBI
Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell went to "extreme lengths" in an attempt to stay under the radar while she was in hiding over the last year ever since the arrest of the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said in court documents on Thursday, July 2. Maxwell, widely believed to be an Epstein accomplice, was arrested at a home worth around $1million in New Hampshire on child sex trafficking ring-related charges.
Maxwell is accused of procuring three underage girls for Epstein for sexual intercourse between 1994 and 1997 and also engaging in sex acts with them herself. Prosecutors, in the court documents, also stated that Maxwell bought the million-dollar house she was arrested in with cash in December and paid for it through an LLC to avoid detection.
Before buying the property, she moved her location at least twice in New England. The 58-year-old was last seen in public at an In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles in August 2019, nearly ten days before Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan prison. Maxwell, during this period, also changed her phone number and email address. It is not yet clear for how long the FBI was keeping an eye on her. She reportedly registered a new phone number under the name 'G Max' and used a fake name to have packages delivered to her, the Daily Mail reported.
According to investigators, Maxwell moved money between 15 different bank accounts and the total balance in her accounts over the last few years varied from thousands of dollars to $20 million. She moved $500,000 from one account to another in one instance. Prosecutors, in a memo filed in court on Thursday asking for a judge to deny her bail, stated that Maxwell has three passports (British, French and American) and is a major flight risk.
A grand jury, on June 29, returned a sealed, six-count indictment against her, which accuses Maxwell of enticing underage girls to travel for sex, having sex with girls along with Epstein and lying about it under oath in depositions. The charges laid against the 58-year-old relate to incidents that happened between 1994 and 1997 and involve three unnamed victims, one of whom was as young as 14 when the alleged sexual assault occurred.
Epstein was arrested by federal agents on July 6 in New Jersey after his return from a Paris trip and was charged with child sex trafficking in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1591. He is suspected of sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York. He allegedly hanged himself at the Manhattan Correctional Center early morning on August 10, despite being intermittently put on suicide watch. Epstein's close friend Maxwell is also believed to be associated with the decades of horror the financier inflicted on his young victims. Multiple accusers have since come forward to allege that Maxwell was by Epstein's side and making arrangements for the financier and the victims.
The charges against the 58-year-old include conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury.