By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – On Monday, a US judge denied bail to Ghislaine Maxwell, citing the risk of the British socialite running away from the allegations that she helped finance sex trafficking of financier Jeffrey Epstein’s girls.
US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan said federal prosecutors had persuaded her that Maxwell “poses a risk of escape” despite his proposed $ 28.5 million bail package, and must remain in jail because “no condition of release” guarantees that she would appear in court.
Maxwell’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for US Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan declined to comment.
Maxwell, 59, pleaded not guilty of helping Epstein recruit and prepare girls under 14 for sex in the mid-1990s, and innocent of perjury for denying his involvement under oath.
She was arrested at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after her July 2 arrest at her New Hampshire home, where prosecutors said she was in hiding.
The proposed bail package included $ 22.5 million posted by Maxwell and her husband, as well as home confinement with electronic monitoring and 24-hour guard to ensure that Maxwell remained safe and did not escape.
Maxwell said he wanted to stay in New York to clear her name, while her lawyers were opposed to prison conditions, including invasive searches and surveillance by guards with flashlights that woke her up every 15 minutes to make sure she was still breathing.
But Nathan, who rejected a $ 5 million bail package for Maxwell in July, said none of the new arguments had a “material influence” on whether Maxwell was a flight hazard.
In opposition to bail, prosecutors cited Maxwell’s abilities to hide her wealth and escape capture, and the possibility of her fleeing to France or the United Kingdom, where she has citizenship and they said she could escape extradition.
Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted. His trial is scheduled for July 12, 2021.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Former US Attorney General William Barr criticized the mistakes made by prison staff who, he said, contributed to Epstein’s death.
Nathan described his “financial results” conclusions in an order of two pages. A longer opinion explaining his reasoning will be shelved after Maxwell’s lawyers and the government have proposed newsrooms to account for potentially confidential information.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)