Ghislaine Maxwell moved to New York jail for Epstein-related sex abuse charges
Jeffrey Epstein's long-time confidante Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred to a New York jail to face charges that she recruited women and girls, one as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to schedule a Friday court appearance in Manhattan federal court for Maxwell, 58, who was arrested last week at a $US1 million ($1.4 million) estate she had purchased in New Hampshire.
Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured in New York in 2016.Credit:Getty Images
She had been held over the weekend at the Merrimack County Jail, a medium-security facility 32 kilometres from the home where investigators said she had been lying low.
The defendant is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, the prison bureau said on Monday, local time.
Conditions there sparked public outcry last year after an electrical fire cut power and heat to roughly 1600 prisoners during one of the coldest weeks of 2019.
Maxwell, the daughter of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, was the former girlfriend and long-time close associate of Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan jail last August while he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell has been indicted on multiple charges, including that she conspired to entice girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sex acts with Epstein from 1994 through to 1997.
Several of Epstein's victims have described Maxwell as his chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for abuse. She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her "absolute rubbish".
In a letter to a judge on Sunday, prosecutors said they had communicated with Maxwell’s defence lawyer, Christian Everdell, who would like a Friday bail hearing where she will be arraigned.
Prosecutors have said Maxwell "poses an extreme risk of flight".
Maxwell has three passports, is wealthy with lots of international connections, and has "absolutely no reason to stay in the United States and face the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence", they wrote in a memo.
Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.
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AP with Reuters