NEW YORK—British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested on July 2, according to the FBI.
Maxwell, who has long been accused of helping groom minor girls for Epstein, had kept a low profile following the financier’s death. Multiple alleged victims of Epstein have accused Maxwell of luring them into his trafficking circle, where they said they were sexually abused by him and other powerful people.
An FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that Maxwell was arrested at 8:30 a.m. EST in Bradford, New Hampshire.
Maxwell previously lived for years with Epstein and was his frequent travel companion on trips around the world. The accusations against Maxwell had never resulted in any criminal charges, until now.
“From at least in or about 1994, up to and including at least in or about 1997, 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 victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18,” the indictment reads.
Laura Menninger, Maxwell’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from The Epoch Times. If convicted, she faces up to 35 years in prison.
“She’s going down. She’s going to take everybody with her,” Greco said at the time. “They are going to ask her, ‘Who else did you provide these girls to?’ I think that she is going to start talking.
“Remember, it’s just pieces to a puzzle, so she may not know everything. But they are going to use her to place the people at those parties, so if she can say, ‘I was there on this date ... and this senator and so-and-so was there,’ that will be enough for them to get them involved.”
In a 2016 deposition, Giuffre claimed she was directed by Maxwell to have sex with a number of powerful men.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said in a statement that Maxwell herself also participated in the sexual abuse of young children.
Epstein was found dead in what was ruled a suicide in a federal detention center in New York last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.