Ghislaine Maxwell faces two new charges in the United States, including sex trafficking in minors
U.S. prosecutors filed two new charges in their sex crime case against British socialist Ghislaine Maxwell on Monday. They added a new victim and extended the time frame for her alleged crime.
Federal lawyers filed a replacement indictment in a New York court, adding bills on sex conspiracy and sex trafficking to a minor, leading to Maxwell facing eight counts.
The indictment includes a new prosecutor, called “Minor Victim-4”, and extends by seven years the time Maxwell is accused of aiding sexual abuse of underage girls by her former partner Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, 59, is now charged with crimes between 1994 and 2004 after being charged with alleged sex crimes between 1994 and 1997.
The bills are stronger than previous allegations referring to the “lure” and “transportation” of minors to travel to engage in illegal sex.
Maxwell is also facing two counts of perjury relating to testimony she gave in 2016 in a defamation case brought against her by longtime Epstein prosecutor Virginia Giuffre.
Daughter of late newspaper baron Robert Maxwell denies recruiting girls for Epstein, the disgraceful American financier who killed himself in prison in 2019 pending trial.
She was denied bail for the third time earlier this month and is still in jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial due to begin this summer.
In the new indictment, prosecutors with the Southern District of New York claim that Maxwell met minor victim-4 at Epstein’s residence in Palm Beach in 2001 when the latter was about 14 years old.
She then “prepared minor 4-year-olds to engage in sexual acts with Epstein in several ways,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege that Maxwell also encouraged the victim “to recruit other young women to provide sexualized massage to Epstein.”
The girl finally took “several women”, including girls under the age of 18, archives say.
Maxwell faces an effective life sentence if convicted. Her trial is set to begin in July but is likely to be delayed due to the pandemic and the new indictment.
(AFP)
