Ghislaine Maxwell, associate of Jeffrey Epstein, arrested by the FBI
Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was accused by many women of helping procure underage sex partners for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested in the US, the FBI says.
Maxwell, who lived for years with Epstein and frequently travelled with him around the world, was taken into custody about 8.30am on Thursday in New Hampshire, the FBI said.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in New York in 2005.Credit:Getty Images
An indictment alleged that Maxwell "assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse" girls under the age of 18.
The indictment included counts of 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.
The 58-year-old is due to appear in Federal Court on Thursday, sources said.
Epstein was a registered sex offender who was arrested last year on federal sex trafficking charges for alleged abuses of underage girls in New York and Florida. He killed himself in a federal detention centre in New York City last year while awaiting trial.
Maxwell was an ex-girlfriend of Epstein who became a long-time member of his inner circle. In a 2003 Vanity Fair article, Epstein was quoted as saying Maxwell was his "best friend".
Maxwell was accused by many women of recruiting them to give Epstein massages, during which they were pressured into sex.
Among the most sensational accusations was a claim by one Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, that Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew at her London townhouse.
Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, bolstered her allegations with a picture of her, Prince Andrew and Giuffre that she said was taken at the time. Prince Andrew has denied her story.
Prince Andrew pictured with Virginia Roberts in 2001 at the townhouse of Ghislaine Maxwell, right, in London.
Maxwell was described in a lawsuit by another Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome, as the "highest-ranking employee" of Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking enterprise. She oversaw and trained recruiters, developed recruiting plans and helped conceal the activity from law enforcement, the lawsuit alleged.
Those accusations, until now, never resulted in criminal charges.
Maxwell has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has previously called some of the claims against her "absolute rubbish".
She largely disappeared from public view in 2016 and was particularly elusive after Epstein was charged with sex trafficking.
Maxwell is the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell, who founded a publishing house and owned tabloids including the Daily Mirror.
It emerged after Robert Maxwell's mysterious death in 1991 that he had looted hundreds of millions of dollars from employee pension funds to prop up his crumbling business empire.
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AP, Reuters