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Ghislaine Maxwell

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Ghislaine Maxwell
Maxwell in 2007
Born (1961-12-25) 25 December 1961 (age 62)
Maisons-Laffitte, France
EducationOxford University
Occupation(s)Socialite, businessperson
Parents
RelativesChristine Maxwell (sister)
Isabel Maxwell (sister)
Kevin Maxwell (brother)
Ian Maxwell (brother)

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell[1] (/ˌɡiːˈleɪn, -ˈlɛn/ ghee-LAYN, -⁠LEN; born 25 December 1961)[2] is a British socialite and the youngest child of publishing tycoon and fraudster Robert Maxwell. She moved to the United States after her father's death in 1991 and became a close associate of financier and subsequently convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.[3]

Maxwell founded the ocean-advocacy group The TerraMar Project in 2012. The organization announced closure on 12 July 2019, a week after the sex trafficking charges brought by New York federal prosecutors against Epstein became public.[4]

Early life

Ghislaine Maxwell was born in 1961, in Maisons-Laffitte, France,[5] the ninth and youngest child of Elisabeth (née Meynard), a French-born scholar, and Robert Maxwell, a Czech-born British media proprietor. Her father was from a Jewish family and her mother was of Huguenot descent. Maxwell was born days after a car accident that left her older brother Michael in a prolonged coma at age 15, unresponsive until his death in 1967.[6] Throughout childhood, Ghislaine resided with her family in Oxford at Headington Hill Hall, a 53-room mansion, where the offices to Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press were also located.[5][7][3] Maxwell attended Headington School, Marlborough College, and Oxford University's Balliol College.[2]

Maxwell had an unusually close relationship with her father and was widely credited with being her father's favourite child.[3][8][9] The Times reported that Robert Maxwell did not permit Ghislaine to bring her boyfriends home or to be seen with them publicly, starting from the time she was attending Balliol College at Oxford.[10]

Career

Maxwell was a prominent member of the London social scene in the 1980s.[11] She founded a women's club named after the original Kit-Cat Club[12][9] and was a director of Oxford United Football Club, during her father's ownership.[13][14] She also worked at The European, a publication Robert Maxwell had started.[15] According to Tom Bower of The Times, in 1986 Ghislaine's father invited her to visit his new yacht in a shipyard in Holland to celebrate its christening in her honour as the Lady Ghislaine.[6] The Scotsman stated that Robert Maxwell had also "tailor made a New York company for her".[16] The company, which focused on corporate gifts, was not profitable.[10][6][17]

The Times reported that Maxwell flew to New York on 5 November 1990 to deliver an envelope on behalf of Robert Maxwell that, unknown to her, was part of "a plot initiated by her father to steal $200m" from Berlitz shareholders.[6]

After her father purchased the New York Daily News in January 1991, Maxwell was sent to New York City to act as his emissary.[18][10]

In November 1991, Robert Maxwell's body was found floating in the sea near the Canary Islands and his luxury yacht the Lady Ghislaine.[19] Immediately following his death, Ghislaine flew to Tenerife, where the yacht was stationed, to attend to his business paperwork.[10] Though a verdict of death by accidental drowning was recorded, Maxwell has since stated that she believes her father was murdered,[20] commenting in 1997 that "He did not commit suicide. That was just not consistent with his character. I think he was murdered."[21] After his death, Robert Maxwell was found to have fraudulently appropriated the pension assets of Mirror Group Newspapers, a company that he ran and in which he held a large share of ownership, to support its share price and was disgraced.[22] There were reportedly over £440m in pension funds missing, which left the surviving Maxwell family members and the British government in a bind to repay the 32,000 people affected.[23]

Ghislaine Maxwell moved to the United States in 1991, just after her father's death. Maxwell was photographed boarding a Concorde to cross the Atlantic, causing outrage amidst the pension scandal due to the high cost of flights on the aircraft.[8][9] In 1992, she had moved to an apartment of an Iranian friend overlooking Central Park. At the time, she worked at a real estate office on Madison Avenue. She was reported to be socializing with a crowd that included Ivana Trump and Adnan Khashoggi's son.[24] Maxwell quickly rose to wider prominence as a New York City socialite [9][25]

Association with Jeffrey Epstein

Maxwell first met American financier Jeffrey Epstein in the early 1990s at a New York party following "a difficult break-up with Count Gianfranco Cicogna" of the Ciga Hotels clan.[26]

Maxwell had a romantic relationship with Epstein for several years in the early 1990s and remained closely associated with him for decades afterwards.[9][25][27] The nature of their relationship remains unclear. In a 2009 deposition, several of Epstein's household employees testified that Maxwell had a central role in both his public and private life, referring to her as his “main girlfriend” who also handled the hiring, supervising, and firing of staff starting around 1992.[28] She has also been referred to as the "Lady of the House" by Epstein's staff and as his "aggressive assistant".[29] In a 2003 Vanity Fair profile on Epstein, author Vicky Ward stated that Epstein referred to Maxwell as “my best friend”. [30] Ward also observed that Maxwell seemed "to organize much of his life".[30]

Maxwell has attracted press coverage for her friendship with Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, who attended social functions with her in New York.[31] Maxwell introduced Epstein to Prince Andrew, and the three often socialized together.[32] In 2000, Maxwell and Epstein attended a party thrown by Prince Andrew at the queen's estate in Norfolk, England for Maxwell's 39th birthday.[33] Maxwell has also been associated and photographed with Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.[25]

In 1995, Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation; the Palm Beach, Florida company was later dissolved, in 1998.[28]

In 2008, Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months of an 18-month jail sentence. Following Epstein's release from jail, although Maxwell continued to attend prominent social functions, she and Epstein were no longer seen together publicly.[3]

By late 2015, Maxwell had largely retreated from attending social functions.[3]

Civil cases

Virginia Roberts v. Maxwell (2015)

Details of a civil lawsuit, made public in January 2015, contained a deposition from a woman, identified as "Jane Doe 3", that accused Ghislaine Maxwell of having recruited her in 1999, when she was a minor, to have sex with Epstein.[9] A 2018 exposé by Julie K. Brown in the Miami Herald revealed Jane Doe 3 to be Virginia Giuffre, who in 1999 was known as Virginia Roberts. Giuffre met Maxwell at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where Giuffre was working at the time.[9] She asserted that Maxwell had introduced her to Epstein, after which she was "groomed by the two [of them] for his pleasure, including lessons in Epstein's preferences during oral sex".[34][9]

Maxwell has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes.[27] In a 2015 statement, Maxwell rejected allegations that she has acted as a procurer for Epstein and denied that she had "facilitated Prince Andrew's acts of sexual abuse". Maxwell's spokesperson said that "the allegations made against Ghislaine Maxwell are untrue" and that she "strongly denies allegations of an unsavory nature, which have appeared in the British press and elsewhere, and reserves her right to seek redress at the repetition of such old defamatory claims".[32][35]

Giuffre sued Maxwell in federal court in the Southern District of New York in 2015. She asserted that Maxwell and Epstein had trafficked her and other underage girls, often at sex parties, hosted by Epstein at his homes in New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach, and the US Virgin Islands. Maxwell called her a liar. Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation. While details of the settlement have not been made public,[36] the case was settled in Giuffre's favour, with Maxwell paying Giuffre "millions".[37]

The New York Times asserted that, by 2016, Maxwell was no longer being photographed at events. In April 2016, the New York town house where she had lived was sold for $15 million. By 2017, her lawyers claimed before a judge that they did not know her address; they further claimed that she was in London but that they did not believe she had a permanent residence.[3]

Sarah Ransome v. Epstein and Maxwell (2017)

In 2017, Sarah Ransome filed a suit against Epstein and Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell hired her to give massages to Epstein and later threatened to physically harm her or destroy her career prospects if she did not comply with their sexual demands at his mansion in New York and on his private Caribbean island, Little Saint James. The suit was settled in 2018 under undisclosed terms.[38][3][25][39]

Maria Farmer v. Epstein and Maxwell (2019)

On 16 April 2019, a new accuser, Maria Farmer, went public and filed a sworn affidavit in federal court in New York, alleging that she and her 15-year-old sister had been sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell in separate locations in 1996. According to the affidavit, Farmer had met Maxwell and Epstein at a New York art gallery reception in 1995. The following year, in the summer of 1996, they hired her to work on an art project in billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner's Ohio mansion, where she was then sexually assaulted.[40] Farmer reported the incident to the New York Police Department and the FBI.[28]

Farmer's affidavit also stated that during the same summer, Epstein flew her then-15-year-old sister to his New Mexico property where he and Maxwell molested her on a massage table.[41]

Jennifer Araoz vs. Maxwell and Epstein’s estate (2019)

On 14 August 2019, Jennifer Araoz filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court against Maxwell, Epstein’s estate, and three unnamed members of his staff; the lawsuit was made possible under New York state's new Child Victims Act which took effect on the same date.[42]

Dispute over release of court documents

On 2 July 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the unsealing of documents from the earlier civil suit against Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre.[43] Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on 6 July 2019 at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy.[44]

Maxwell requested a rehearing in a federal appeals court on 17 July 2019, in an effort to keep documents sealed that were part of a suit by Virginia Giuffre.[45]

On 9 August 2019 the first batch of documents were unsealed and released from the earlier defamation suit by Giuffre against Maxwell.[46] Epstein was found dead on 10 August 2019, after reportedly hanging himself in his Manhattan prison cell.[47][48]

Personal life

Newsweek stated in a 2015 article that Maxwell had "her father's bombastic charisma".[49] Following her personal and professional involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell was romantically linked for several years to Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway computers, until their relationship ended in early 2011.[17][9]

In 2000, Maxwell moved into a 7,000-square-foot townhouse on East 65th Street less than 10 blocks from her friend Epstein's New York mansion. Her townhome was purchased for $4.95 million by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime lawyer.[3]

Maxwell also has a residence in London's Belgravia district.[50]

TerraMar Project

In 2012, Maxwell founded The TerraMar Project,[51] a nonprofit organization that advocated protecting ocean waters. She gave a lecture for TerraMar at the University of Texas at Dallas and a TED talk, at TEDx Charlottesville in 2014.[52] Maxwell accompanied Stuart Beck, a 2013 TerraMar board member, to two United Nations meetings to discuss the project.[17]

The TerraMar Project announced closure on 12 July 2019, less than a week after the charges of sex trafficking, brought by New York federal prosecutors against Maxwell's ex-boyfriend and confidante Jeffrey Epstein, became public.[53][3] An associated, UK-based company, Terramar (UK), continues to exist, with Maxwell listed as a director.[54]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Companies House". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  2. ^ a b Haines, Joe (1988). Maxwell. London: Futura. pp. 434 et seq. ISBN 0-7088-4303-4.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Twohey, Megan; Bernstein, Jacob (15 July 2019). "The 'Lady of the House' Who Was Long Entangled With Jeffrey Epstein". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  4. ^ Twohey, Megan; Bernstein, Jacob (15 July 2019). "The 'Lady of the House' Who Was Long Entangled With Jeffrey Epstein". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Betty Maxwell Obituary". The Telegraph. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  6. ^ a b c d Bower, Tom (11 January 2015). "Out from Cap'n Bob's shadow and into a web of sex and royals". The Sunday Times of London. Retrieved 18 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  7. ^ Stevenson, Tom (29 May 1993). "Maxwell home sold – with tenant: Tycoon's widow may stay at Headington another six years". The Independent. Retrieved 20 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  8. ^ a b Davies, Caroline (4 January 2015). "Court papers put daughter of Robert Maxwell at centre of 'sex slave' claims". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Schneier, Matthew (15 July 2019). "Ghislaine Maxwell, The Socialite on Jeffrey Epstein's Arm". New York. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  10. ^ a b c d Bower, Tom (12 August 2019). "Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of Robert Maxwell, fell under the spell of rich and domineering men". The Times. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  11. ^ Cranley, Ellen (8 July 2019). "What to know about British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam". Insider. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  12. ^ Field, Ophelia (2009). Kitten Club: Friends who Imagined a Nation. Harper Press. p. 379.
  13. ^ "Profile of Ghislaine Maxwell", Walker's Research
  14. ^ David Crabtree, et al "A History of Oxford United Football Club" Archived 16 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, OUFC website, 8 March 2011
  15. ^ Whitworth, Damian (13 August 2019). "The socialite and the Epstein scandal: Ghislaine Maxwell's life and times". The Times. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  16. ^ "Misery in the Maxwell House". The Scotsman. 16 November 2001. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  17. ^ a b c Schreckinger, Ben; Lippman, Daniel (21 July 2019). "Meet the woman who ties Jeffrey Epstein to Trump and the Clintons". Politico. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  18. ^ Fry, Naomi (16 August 2019). "The Gall of Ghislaine Maxwell". The New Yorker. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Family Misfortunes", 21 January 1996, The Observer, pg. 14
  20. ^ Lawson, Mark (20 February 1997). "Shot in the dark?". The Guardian. London, England.
  21. ^ "Soundbites", The Observer, 23 February 1997,
  22. ^ Bowcott, Owen (6 March 2011). "Ghislaine Maxwell: Press baron's daughter and Epstein's former lover". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  23. ^ "The Pensioners' Tale". BBC News. 29 March 2001. Retrieved 19 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  24. ^ Davison, John (7 June 1992). "All right for some; Maxwell family". Sunday Times. p. 11.
  25. ^ a b c d Arnold, Amanda (12 July 2019). "Everything We Know About Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Madam". New York. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Jeffrey Epstein obituary". The Times. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  27. ^ a b "Ghislaine Maxwell: profile". The Daily Telegraph. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  28. ^ a b c Hong, Nicole; Davis O'Brien, Rebecca (11 July 2019). "Following Epstein's Arrest, Spotlight Shifts to Financier's Longtime Associate". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  29. ^ Abrams, Margaret (19 July 2019). "Who is Ghislaine Maxwell? The life of Jeffrey Epstein's former socialite girlfriend and alleged 'madam'". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  30. ^ a b Ward, Vicky (27 June 2011). "The Talented Mr. Epstein". Vanity Fair (published March 2003).
  31. ^ Wells, Matt (10 April 2001). "New role for Andrew in doubt after royal fiasco". The Guardian. London, England.
  32. ^ a b Rayner, Gordon (2 January 2015). "Prince Andrew 'categorically denies' claims he sexually abused teenager". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  33. ^ Patterson, James (2016). Filthy Rich. New York: Little Brown and Company. pp. 216, 221. ISBN 978-0-316-27405-0.
  34. ^ Brown, Julie K. (28 November 2018). "Even from jail, sex abuser manipulated the system. His victims were kept in the dark". Miami Herald. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  35. ^ "Statement on Behalf of Ghislaine Maxwell" (Press release). Devonshires Solicitors. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2019 – via PRNewswire.
  36. ^ Russell, John (25 May 2017). "Billionaire's Alleged Sex Slave Settles Libel Case". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  37. ^ Brown, Julie K. (1 March 2019). "Alan Dershowitz suggests curbing press access to hearing on Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse". Miami Herald. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  38. ^ Brown, Julie K. (7 July 2019). "With Jeffrey Epstein locked up, these are nervous times for his friends, enablers". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  39. ^ Dickson, EJ (9 July 2019). "Who Is British Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's Longtime Partner?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  40. ^ Brown, Julie K. (16 April 2019). "New Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Goes Public: Defamation Lawsuit Targets Dershowitz". Miami Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  41. ^ Corbett, Rachel (9 July 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's Latest Accuser Is an Artist Who Claims the Billionaire Sex Offender Lured Her in With Promises to Help Her Career". Artnet News. Retrieved 20 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  42. ^ Ingber, Sasha (14 August 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Sues His Estate, Staff Over Alleged Sexual Assaults". National Public Radio. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  43. ^ Naham, Matt (3 July 2019). "In Major Development, Court Orders Unsealing of Docs Related to Alleged Epstein Sex Trafficking Ring". Law and Crime. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  44. ^ Brown, Julie K. (July 6, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein arrested on sex trafficking charges". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  45. ^ Larson, Erik (18 July 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's Socialite Pal Ghislaine Maxwell Asks Court to Keep Files Sealed". Bloomberg. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  46. ^ Sherman, Gabriel (9 August 2019). "Powerful Men, Disturbing New Details in Unsealed Epstein Documents". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  47. ^ Rashbaum, William K.; Weiser, Benjamin; Gold, Michael (10 August 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein Dead in Suicide at Manhattan Jail, Officials Say". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  48. ^ Zapotosky, Matt; Barrett, Devlin; Merle, Renae; Leonnig, Carol D. (10 August 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein dead after apparent suicide in New York jail". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  49. ^ Ostler, Catherine (29 January 2015). "Jeffrey Epstein: The Sex Offender Who Mixes With Princes and Premiers". Newsweek Magazine. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  50. ^ Briquelet, Kate; Cartwright, Lachlan; Kennedy, Dana; Ross, Jamie; Frias, Jordan (15 August 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's 'Madam' Ghislaine Maxwell Spotted at In-N-Out Burger". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  51. ^ "TerraMar Project launches to celebrate and protect the world's oceans". Mother Nature Network. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  52. ^ Cain, Áine (18 July 2019). "Ghislaine Maxwell abruptly torpedoed her oceanic non-profit in the wake of the scandal surrounding her associate Jeffrey Epstein". Business Insider. Retrieved 20 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  53. ^ "Official Twitter announcement of closure". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  54. ^ "Terramar (UK)". Companies House. Retrieved 13 August 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
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