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Who is Ian Maxwell? Ghislaine's brother calls US legal system 'cruel' over her 'degrading' treatment in jail

'As you know, my sister is being held in the most appalling conditions and subjected to brutal and unusual treatment and yet she is a pretrial detainee,' he said
PUBLISHED MAR 4, 2021
Ghislaine Maxwell's brother Ian has broken his silence about the socialite's time in jail (Getty Images)
Ghislaine Maxwell's brother Ian has broken his silence about the socialite's time in jail (Getty Images)

As Ghislaine Maxwell continues to be detained for allegedly procuring young girls and minors for her former lover and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, her brother Ian Maxwell is still insisting that she is innocent and has recently blasted the US legal system as "bizarre and cruel". Ghislaine, 59, is currently at a Brooklyn jail ahead of her trial this summer for soliciting the women who convicted pedophile and alleged sex offender Epstein used to pimp out to his famous celebrity friends. Ghislaine is being kept under round the clock suicide watch, especially after Epstein allegedly killed himself in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial.

According to her brother Ian, Ghislaine is being held in a tiny cell, being watched by cameras 24 hours, as she keeps losing hair and suffering weight loss. She is also reportedly losing the "ability to concentrate". He told The Telegraph, "As you know, my sister is being held in the most appalling conditions and subjected to brutal and unusual treatment and yet she is a pretrial detainee. This means she is innocent and she is entitled to the presumption of innocence." He also added that the treatment his sister was being given was a "disgrace to any civilized democracy".

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Ian Maxwell with his brother Kevin outside the High Court, London, after a judge ruled that Kevin should not stand trial for a second time on charges relating to the collapse of their disgraced father Robert's media empire (Getty Images)

Who is Ian Maxwell?

Born in 1956 to disgraced publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell and his wife Elizabeth, Ian is a British businessman and co-founder of the think tank Combating Jihadist Terrorism. Back in the '90s, Ian was charged with and also acquitted of financial crimes related to the business practices of his father. He was raised with nine other siblings, of which two died in childhood. Among his known siblings are sisters Isabel Maxwell, Christine Maxwell and Ghislaine Maxwell and brother Kevin Maxwell.

Ian first joined his father's business through Pergamon Press from 1978 to 1983. Following the death of his father on November 5, 1991, Ian was appointed chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers plc (MGN). After a month-long speculation regarding the group's financial status, Ian and his brother Kevin resigned from the board of Maxwell Communication Corporation and MGN.

They also disclosed that millions of pounds had been transferred from the Mirror Group pension fund to their father's private companies without any authority. MGN announced, "Because of increasing conflicts of interest, Ian Maxwell, chairman and publisher of MGN, Kevin Maxwell, and Michael Stoney, who has a major management involvement in the Maxwell private companies, have today resigned from the board of MGN and its subsidiaries and have also ceased their executive duties in the MGN Group."

In June 1992, Ian, Kevin and their financial advisor Larry Trachtenberg were arrested under charges of conspiracy to defraud others of millions. Their acquittal came in January 1996. By 2001, Ian was a director of 31 companies and in September 2018, he announced that he and his brother Kevin had founded a UK think tank called Combating Jihadist Terrorism (CoJit). As of 2020, Ian serves as CoJit's director. He has been married twice, first to an American former fashion model called Laura Marie Plumb, whom he separated from in 1996 after marrying in 1991. Ian's second marriage is to his current wife Tara Dudley Smith.

Ghislaine Maxwell attends the La Mer and Oceana celebration for World Ocean Day 2008 at 620 Loft & Garden June 4, 2008, in New York City (Getty Images)

Ian's complaints about Ghislaine's detention

Ian complains that Ghislaine is being kept at a 6ft by 9ft cell which includes a "concrete bed and toilet". He told The Telegraph, "She has 10 cameras trained on her, including one mobile camera 24/7. Four guards observe her all the time and presumably another is looking at the camera feeds. She is not allowed in the corners of her cell. She is not allowed within 2.5ft of the cell door."

Ian explained Ghislaine has to live in these "brutal" conditions for 250 days. "This is simply wrong," he added. Their family is "convinced she will be acquitted," Ian says, insisting that the public's view of his sister is "entirely wrong". Their family has, however "managed to pull together" $28.5M for Ghislaine's bail. Speaking of Ghislaine giving up her British and French passports to prove she's not at flight risk, Ian called it "a great sacrifice". 

Ghislaine, who has been denied bail, faces up to 50 years in jail if found guilty of all charges. She has continued to deny all allegations of misconduct against her. 

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