'Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich': Financier became Ghislaine Maxwell’s father figure amid sexual pyramid scheme
Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of publishing tycoon Ian Robert Maxwell, was smart, Oxford-educated, witty, and well known in the British social circles. Maxwell shared an unusually deep relationship with her father, and was often referred to as his favorite child. Robert reportedly did not permit her to be publicly seen with her boyfriends or bring them home when she was studying at Oxford. He even gifted a luxury yacht to Ghislaine and called it Lady Ghislaine.
In November 1991, Robert's body was found floating near the luxury yacht. After his death, it was revealed that Robert was something of a conman, he had fraudulently misappropriated his company's pension funds. Ghislaine, who was devoted to Robert, was left heartbroken after her father's death and moved to New York the same year, where she met financier Jeffrey Epstein. She had begun making news in the city's social circles when she met Epstein at a party in the early 1990s.
It is reported that she had a romantic relationship with Epstein, however, the exact nature of their relationship to date is not clear. Ghislaine's loyalty to Epstein was unflinching, it was as if she had replaced her father figure, a wealthy man, with Epstein, another wealthy man. Epstein was widely known as an introvert, he liked to have an aura of mystery around him. However, Ghislaine was not, and the sexual predator recognized that and made use of Ghislaine's social skills in the procurement of his prey.
"He's got an extraordinary gift where he controls the people he meets and manipulates them with his charisma," Epstein's former employer Steve Hoffenberg, the former chairman of Towers Financial Corporation, said of the financier.
Ghislaine allegedly became involved in Epstein's world and actively began recruiting girls for Epstein's (and sometimes) her own pleasure. As Epstein orchestrated his depraved sexual pyramid scheme for minor girls, Ghislaine helmed its operations, being the chain's top recruiter.
Virginia Giuffre was 16-years-old when she took up a summer job in the early 2000s at Donald Trump's Mar-a-lago. She was a locker room attendant at a spa facility there. One day, Giuffre was at work when she saw Ghislaine there. The teen thought Ghislaine was a smart, attractive lady. Ghislaine spotted the teen and approached her, saying she had noticed earlier that Giuffre was reading a book on massage therapy. She told the girl that she had an excellent opportunity for her. Ghislaine told her of a man who was looking for a traveling masseuse. She invited the teen to Epstein's house in Palm Beach for a trial.
Thinking this to be a rare opportunity, Giuffre visited Epstein's house. Judging by the pictures on his mansion walls, she understood that the financier was a well-placed, powerful man who knew many influential figures. She found Epstein already lying face down on a massage table when she entered the room, Ghislaine was there too. As she began massaging the pedophile, they began asking personal questions about her.
"My life started out very hard from a young age," Giuffre said. "I was a runaway. I lived on the streets, and was sexually abused." Shortly after she told them of her troubled past, the pair asked her to take off her clothes. Ghislaine, along with Epstein, began touching her inappropriately. The whole experience culminated in her having sexual intercourse with Epstein. Ghislaine, after it was over, told the teen that this was a test and she had passed. She asked her to come the next day too, and the teen thinking of a potential bright future with them, did.
"I had no self esteem," Giuffre later said. "I was scared that my life was going to be worthless. I was the perfect victim for them." The teen continued visiting Epstein without asking any questions, she had to serve Epstein all the time, from taking off his socks to doing what he wanted from her sexually. "They had a great way of normalizing the abuse," she said, adding that they made her feel like a part of their family. They told her she would become a real massage therapist one day, and would go places if she stayed with them.
"I stayed because I did not see my life getting better," Giuffre said. "It was like I was their slave." She revealed that after a period of staying with them, visiting places with them, watching movies with them, she was trafficked. "I was lent out to all their friends," she added that the people who "used" her were powerful politicians and businessmen.
Similar to Giuffre, multiple victims came forward after Epstein's arrest in 2019 and accused Ghislaine of recruiting them to sexually please Epstein and in some cases traffic them. Ghislaine Maxwell, however, has denied the accusations.
Netflix's 'Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich' premiered May 27.
