Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged former madam of Jeffrey Epstein, spent years in hiding before she was finally arrested by the FBI last Friday. It was assumed that she was hiding from police and prosecutors, but her lawyers claimed on Friday that this was not the case at all. Instead, they said that she was hiding from the media.
The New York Post reported that Maxwell’s lawyers are trying to paint the 58-year-old British socialite as the victim, claiming that she was scapegoated by tabloids that wanted to punish her for Epstein’s crimes.
“Ever since Epstein’s arrest, Ms. Maxwell has been at the center of a crushing onslaught of press articles, television specials, and social media posts painting her in the most damning light possible and prejudging her guilt,” her attorneys wrote in response to a request by prosecutors that she be held without bail.
They went on to cite a specific article in the British newspaper The Sun that featured Maxwell’s face depicted on a wanted poster.
“She has seen helicopters flying over her home and reporters hiding in the bushes,” the lawyers continued. They argued that Maxwell dropped out of the public eye to live on her secluded New Hampshire estate to hide from this “intrusive” media coverage.
“Ms. Maxwell did not take these steps to hide from law enforcement or evade prosecution,” they wrote. “Instead, they were necessary measures that Ms. Maxwell was forced to take to protect herself, her family members, her friends and colleagues, and their children, from unrelenting and intrusive media coverage, threats, and irreparable reputational harm.”
Her lawyers have asked the judge to allow her to be released on $5 million bond, adding that she will turn over all her travel documents as part of the deal. They are arguing that the Brooklyn prison where she is currently incarcerated is in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak, putting her at great risk of contracting it.
Prosecutors, however, want her to be remanded because they say she’s an “extreme” flight risk who has more than $20 million in the bank and three passports as well as various powerful international connections.
Maxwell was arrested last week at her New Hampshire home and hit with a six-count indictment that claims she trafficked underage girls for Epstein to abuse and then lied about it under oath.
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