Why Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison during her trial| Latest News Headlines

She was born in France, raised in an English mansion, educated in Oxford. She has spent decades dining with financiers, politicians, and celebrities, and jumping from Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion near Central Park to his lavish havens in Florida and the Virgin Islands.

It is perhaps no wonder that Ghislaine Maxwell finds life at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the towering concrete federal prison on Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront, “intolerable,” as her lawyers described in the documents. judicial; she also called it “a living hell” and even, as her brother put it, “torture”.

But the judge in Ms Maxwell’s trial on the sex trafficking and conspiracy charges disagreed. On four occasions, Manhattan Federal District Court Judge Alison J. Nathan has denied bail requests, even when Ms Maxwell offered a $ 28.5 million guarantee.

“Ms. Maxwell presents a real risk of substantial leakage,” Justice Nathan said.

Ms Maxwell holds passports from three countries, including France, which does not extradite citizens to the United States. And prosecutors linked her to more than 15 bank accounts that, over four years, received more than $ 20 million in accounts associated with Mr. Epstein.

Ms Maxwell’s lawyers say she “wants nothing more than to stay in this country to fight the allegations against her.”

Almost every detail has been disputed as part of the bail process, from his actions before his arrest in July 2020 to his conditions of pre-trial detention in prison.

Ms Maxwell complained of sewage leaks and intrusive surveillance which her lawyer compared to Hannibal Lecter’s surveillance in “The Silence of the Lambs.” Prosecutors say she lives better than other inmates, with her own shower, phone, television and two computers.

Prosecutors also said that prior to her arrest Ms Maxwell went into hiding in New England, ultimately using the money to buy a 156-acre property in Bradford, NH, hiding her property behind a company, telling a real estate agent that she was a journalist seeking confidentiality. named Jen Marshall then falsely claiming not to know the buyer.

Ms Maxwell also used fake names to register her phone and order packages. She says she wasn’t hiding from the authorities but from the paparazzi, hackers and other threats.

Prosecutors replied that upon her arrest, she ignored orders to open the door, fleeing to another room. Her lawyer replied that she was following security protocol, not looking for “a secret tunnel”.

The two sides also clashed over Ms Maxwell’s income and when she most recently had contact with Mr Epstein. Prosecutors have called his allegations “implausible,” and so far the judge has sided with them.