‘Spy planes, armed agents’: Dramatic new details of Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest

Armed FBI agents reportedly caught disgraced socialite and accused “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell in her “sweatpants” as dramatic new details of her arrest are revealed. A convoy of armed agents raced through the New Hampshire woods while spy planes buzzed overhead in the moments before Ghislaine Maxwell — who allegedly procured and groomed young girls for Epstein — was arrested, according to a report. Maxwell was finally apprehended after more than a year on the run and is scheduled to appear in court this week over her alleged crimes and could face up to 35 years in prison. The Daily Mail reports 24 FBI agents were backed by New York police, local officers and New Hampshire’s gang task force when they stormed the sprawling property named “Tuckedaway”, which was bought with $US1 million cash last year. After using boltcutters to break the lock on a metal gate, the convoy raced up the driveway before her front door was “smashed down”, an officer told the paper. Maxwell was reportedly in her living room wearing “sweatpants and a top” when authorities burst in. “She was turned around quickly and cuffed. She was in custody in a matter of seconds,” the source said. GHISLAINE COULD ‘SNITCH ON BIG NAMES’ Powerful people connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell — including Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Leslie Wexner — could be “extremely worried right now” following Maxwell’s arrest — because she wrongly believed they were protecting her. According to the New York Post’s Page Six, Steven Hoffenberg, a former business associate of Epstein’s (and who temporarily managed the New York Post in 1993), said, “She’s going to be naming some big names — not only in terms of those who abused underage girls at Epstein’s parties — but also those who made financial agreements with Epstein or benefited from his generosity, including flying on his plane and staying at his homes.” Hoffenberg said, “Ghislaine thought she was untouchable — that she’d be protected by the intelligence communities she and Jeffrey helped with information: the Israeli intelligence services, and Les Wexner, who has given millions to Israel; by Prince Andrew, President Clinton and even by President Trump, who was well-known to be an acquaintance of her and Epstein’s.” Both Prince Andrew and Donald Trump deny any knowledge of or involvement in underage sex. Mr Clinton has never been accused of crimes while associating with Epstein, and recently denied a claim that he had an affair with Maxwell. However, he admits he travelled on Epstein’s private plane, known as the Lolita Express. Victoria’s Secret billionaire Wexner said Epstein was his money manager, but denied any knowledge of Epstein’s illegal behaviour. Hoffenberg — who worked with Epstein from 1987 to around 1993 — spent 18 years behind bars for a Ponzi scheme that he has claimed Epstein was part of. He said given Ghislaine’s luxurious lifestyle, “she’s gone from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the sewer. She won’t be able to handle jail — and she’ll immediately start talking to try to get out of it.” THE LIST NO ONE WANTS TO BE ON So who among Epstein’s infamous black book might Maxwell dob in? If the pressure is on, possibly Prince Andrew, former president Bill Clinton, high-powered lawyer Alan Dershowitz, billionaire hedge fund owner Glenn Dubin, his wife, Dr. Eva Andersson-Dubin who founded the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute—and dated Epstein for a few years before she married Dubin in 1994. The Dubins deny assertions by sex-abuse victim Virginia Giuffre, who in a 2016 deposition claimed Maxwell sent her to Dubin to have sex with after her “training.” There’s also Clare Hazell, now known as the Countess of Iveagh, who married Edward Guinness of the famed brewing family in 2001. Hazell, 44, could be of interest to prosecutors because she worked for Epstein in the 1990s and flew on Epstein’s jet at least 32 times between 1998 and 2000 and may have witnessed Maxwell’s dealings with other wealthy friends. Larry Summers, Sheryl Sandberg’s one-time mentor and the former Harvard president, helped bolster Epstein’s reputation, accepting $US30 million to create Harvard’s Epstein Program for Mathematical Biology and Evolutionary Dynamics, according to Slate. Summers appeared in flight logs, and Epstein’s private charity funded a non-profit that produces a TV show hosted by Summer’s wife, the Daily Beast reported last year. Then there is Ehud Barak, 77, the former Prime Minister of Israel, who said he met Epstein “more than 10 times and much less than a hundred times, but I can’t tell you exactly how many. I don’t keep count. Over the years, I’ve seen him on occasion.” Barak admitted that he visited Epstein at two of his New York homes and flew to Epstein’s island hideaway once, though he denied participating in any sex parties or orgies there. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, 72, and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, 86, have denied claims by Giuffre that she was “instructed” by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with them, including one incident in which she said she gave Mitchell a sexual massage at Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, where her “body was put on the banquet menu.” “I have never met, spoken with or had any contact with Ms. Giuffre,” Mitchell told Fox News. “In my contacts with Mr. Epstein I never observed or suspected any inappropriate conduct with underage girls. I only learned of his actions when they were reported in the media related to his prosecution in Florida. We have had no further contact.” Richardson, too, issued forceful rebuttal saying he had only “limited” interactions with Epstein and never in the presence of young or underage girls and denied meeting Giuffre. Elon Musk’s former wife Talulah Riley found it necessary to take to Twitter and reject rumours that her ex-husband ever knew Ghislaine Maxwell or that the arrested socialite ever set them up as a couple when Riley was just 22 years old and visiting London. MAXWELL FRIENDS SAYS SHE IS ‘A VICTIM’ OF EPSTEIN A close friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell says the disgraced socialite was also a victim of Epstein. “She was also a victim of Jeffrey. You can be both a predator and a victim,” said Laura Goldman, a former investment banker who claims to be a close friend of Maxwell, on The Sunday Project. “She was in love with Jeffrey Epstein – it doesn’t excuse what she did, she really thought that he would marry her. I feel in some ways, he gaslit her. “He convinced her that he was going to do it at some point (propose). “There’s no excuse (for the crimes) … I have no problem with her going to jail”. Speaking to Sunday Project co-host Lisa Wilkinson, Goldman said she did not think Maxwell would “betray” Prince Andrew by revealing any details about his alleged connections to Epstein. “I don’t think … that she will ever reveal anything about Prince Andrew. She will never betray him. ‘I think she feels that he has been a victim in this too.” Goldman claimed she had spoken to Maxwell “a couple of weeks ago” and would visit her in jail. Wilkinson concluded the segment by saying that Ms Goldman had a “checkered history herself”. MAXWELL’S LIFE ‘IN DANGER’ Friends of Maxwell are worried she could get “knocked off” in prison or die by suicide like Epstein. “I’m absolutely worried for her safety,” said Christopher Mason, a TV host and journalist who has known Maxwell since the 1980s, according to the New York Post. “Do I think [she’s] in danger? Yes.” Mason, who is appearing in the new docu-series “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein”, added that the threat to Maxwell — now headed to the same Manhattan prison where Epstein died last August — could be greater because of reports she might co-operate with authorities. “The authorities are open to the possibility of some co-operation,” Mason said. “In a way, I can’t imagine her ever giving up Prince Andrew, but if it’s life imprisonment with no hope of parole, it might be tempting. She of all of those people knew who slept with whom and [which young girl] was assigned to whom.” Mason said Maxwell had access to potentially compromising videotapes. He said he was told that Epstein rigged his many homes with cameras and kept surveillance tapes of everyone and everything that went on in them. The tapes have all disappeared, he said. “I’m sure she has access to the videos,” Mason said. “A lot of powerful people will be more than a little worried. I hope [Maxwell won’t] end up like Epstein. I’m a little worried about that. I think she’s in danger. There is too much power involved if she really talks.” China knew about COVID-19 ‘seven years ago’ Another friend who asked to remain anonymous said: “I don’t understand why [Maxwell] didn’t leave the country. She has very high-powered friends and I am wondering why she stayed in the US. She must have some major dirt to stay in this country.” Maxwell has American, British and French citizenship, this friend said. The friend speculated that Prince Andrew had the most to worry about but added, “I can’t tell you how much he was involved.” Mason said Maxwell “was my friend, but after the brutality of the treatment of these girls and the threats she made, it’s hard. Sympathy for her has evaporated. “She’s the daughter of a monstrous man and Jeffrey was the ideal replacement for her monstrous father so one could be exceedingly sympathetic — poor thing she had no chance, her father was a monster. That’s all she knew. But she’s also a highly intelligent adult with choices.” AUSSIE VICTIM’S JOY AS MAXWELL NABBED The Australian-based alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has described her “tears of joy” at being told that the British socialite had been arrested. “When I got the call I was elated, crying tears of joy, laughing … finally we got her,’’ Virginia Roberts Giuffre told The Weekend Australian. “It felt even better than when Jeffrey got arrested … he was a paedophile, they cannot be cured. They either belong in jail or six feet under. “Ghislaine, on the other hand, is an evil monster. “This woman found me, groomed me, abused me and handed me over to Jeffrey and his friends.’’ Ms Giuffre’s comments came as a new photo emerged, providing a fresh link between Maxwell and the Royal Family. London’s The Telegraphpublished a photo of Maxwell and disgraced Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey said to be sitting together in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace. Maxwell and Spacey were at the palace on a tour that Prince Andrew had organised for former US president Bill Clinton. The photo is believed to have been taken in 2002, three years before authorities began investigation Epstein for child sex crimes. The image is sure to put further pressure on Prince Andrew to explain his relationship with Maxwell and Epstein to US authorities. Spacey has also been the subject of a number of sexual assault allegations. Maxwell, who allegedly procured and groomed girls as young as 14 for Epstein, faces 35 years in jail. The arrest has again turned the spotlight back on Prince Andrew, who had close links to the pair, often staying at the late billionaire’s New York townhouse. Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019. Ghislaine Maxwell would never sell out Prince Andrew to the FBI, one of her close friends says, as it was claimed she had an affair with the Duke of York. Laura Goldman, a long-time friend of Maxwell who was arrested this week after a year on the run, said the alleged pimp for Epstein would never betray Prince Andrew. “The only way she can walk is if she gives someone up, but that definitely won’t be Andrew,” Ms Goldman told the UK Daily Telegraph. “She is so appreciative that when she first came to New York, the Duke helped to launch her into high society. She always talks about what a true friend he is. She doesn’t see any reason to speak about him to the authorities.” She claimed that Maxwell was more likely to speak about Mr Clinton and current president Donald Trump’s links to Epstein. Both men had been seen with Epstein but there have been no allegations they knew, or participated in, the financier’s activities. Ms Goldman also claimed that Maxwell, 58, and Prince Andrew, 60, had a “fling”. “Ghislaine’s always told me that Andrew’s kind of stupid and naive and if there were girls in the house while he was there, he would have thought they were servants,” she said. “All these people thinking he is evil are just wrong. He is just the kind of entitled person who sees everyone as a servant.” A new lawsuit filed this week by one of Epstein’s alleged victims claims she was raped while Prince Andrew was visiting him in New York in 2010, however it does not allege he witnessed the attack. The FBI has hit Maxwell with six charges, including organising and participating in the sexual abuse of teenage girls that she had procured for Epstein. Another one of the alleged victims of Maxwell and Epstein said her abuse started when she was 14 years old. The abuse only stopped when she became pregnant by Epstein and had an abortion at 16. “Ghislaine was a part of it. I was drugged,” the alleged victim said. “Ms Maxwell was a participant, and she made it very clear that I was to keep my mouth shut or harm would come to my family and myself and harm did come to me.” The woman, whose identity has been protected, told Fox News that Maxwell, 58, had also performed sex acts on her. “It was her more or less, coaching. Do it this way and do it that way, because once you become a model, this is what they’re going to expect from you,” she said. Maxwell, the daughter of disgraced media tycoon, was a close friend of Prince Andrew, after the pair was introduced by his former wife Sarah Ferguson. Maxwell had received at least $28 million from Epstein between 2007 and 2011, as part of payments during a decades long association with the child sex abuser. One of Epstein’s former associates, Steven Hoffenberg, said Prince Andrew, who has always denied any knowledge of his former friend’s criminal behaviour, should be worried about Maxwell. “Andrew handled it poorly, very poorly, he should have spoken to them (the FBI) through his lawyers, and given them some guidance. He should have given them something,” he told The Sun. “She’s going to co-operate and be very important. Andrew may be very concerned, and there’s a lot of people very worried, a lot of powerful people have been named [in the scandal], and she knows everything.” Prince Andrew has been in a dispute with US authorities who want him to testify in person about what he knew of Epstein and Maxwell’s activities, when his legal camp have only offered written responses. US AUTHORITIES ‘WOULD WELCOME PRINCE ANDREW’ Giuffre has previously said she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times in 2001. She has also claimed one time happened during an orgy involving underage girls on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands. Prince Andrew has strongly denied the allegations and a spokesman for the royal said the Duke of York would not be commenting on Maxwell’s arrest. After Maxwell’s arrest US authorities said they “would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us. We would like to have the benefit of his statement,” Audrey Strauss, the Acting US lawyer for the Southern District of New York, said on Thursday (local time). Ms Giuffre told The Weekend Australian that she hoped Prince Andrew would “tell the truth” and speak with US authorities. In a BBC interview last year, Ms Giuffre called the prince “a liar”. “He knows what he has done. The lies, after lies, after lies were just incredulous — he sounded like a buffoon. “He is going to go to jail. He has already lost so much but that is not enough. Justice has to prevail. He has to be held accountable.’’ Ms Giuffre’s US-based lawyer, David Boies, who broke the news to her said that Prince Andrew now has to “come clean”. “Epstein and Maxwell did not act alone. The sex trafficking enterprise was bigger than any two people. This really puts the spotlight on Prince Andrew,” Mr Boies reportedly told The Sun. “Prince Andrew now has to come clean – to admit it was a horrible mistake to get involved with Epstein and Maxwell. He needs to express remorse and reach out to the victims and apologise. “The more he attacks the victims, the deeper he digs himself in.” Ms Giuffre said it was Maxwell who first spotted her as a 16-year-old working as a spa attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. She reportedly told the teenager that she knew “this guy looking for a massage therapist, you’ll travel the world and make lots of money”. Ms Giuffre said that with Maxwell’s arrest she hoped the truth “would now come out”. Prior to her public comments, Ms Giuffre tweeted, a photo of the sun going down. Ms Giuffre urged other victims to come forward. “We know the fear, we know the criticism and I know that it takes every inch of morality to fight, this is no ordinary fight. I won’t say names bc it’s your right to stay silent but know you have an army behind you now and we can change the world together,” she wrote on Twitter. JOHNSON: PRINCE ANDREW ‘NOT ABOVE THE LAW’ It comes as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Prince Andrew was not above the law and any request for him to testify would be considered by the British Government. The royal family was again in crisis on Friday (local time) amid fears that Prince Andrew’s one-time close friend Maxwell would point the finger at the Duke of York. The FBI has again asked Prince Andrew, who was accused of having sex with Ms Giuffre when she was underage, to tell them what he knows about Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Johnson was backed into a corner over the scandal about whether the Duke of York should submit to US authorities. “Obviously, everybody’s sympathies are very much with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein but you wouldn’t expect me to comment on matters affecting the royal family,” he said on LBC Radio in London. He said that no approach has been made to the government from US authorities to speak with Prince Andrew. That was contrary to reports claiming the US Department of Justice had planned to approach the British Home Office to seek a mutual legal assistance request that would compel Prince Andrew to testify under oath at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. “Were it to be made, it would be a matter for the British government but no such approach has been made, it’s a hypothetical question,” he said. When pressed, he added: “It’s a matter for the royal family but of course the law must be carried out and the law must be observed.” It has been suggested Prince Andrew is a ‘covert target’ of US Authorities. Highly respected British lawyer Mark Stephens told BBC Breakfast, US authorities are “piling enormous pressure on Ghislaine Maxwell” to provide evidence after she was charged with alleged sex trafficking among other offences on Thursday. “If, as she is, facing effectively a lifetime in jail, why wouldn’t you try and cut a plea deal?” he said. “You would try and get a reduced sentence and if that means bringing down some rich and powerful men. Then in those circumstances, I think that’s the pressure that they’re putting on Ghislaine Maxwell.” EPSTEIN’S MADAM WAS HIDING IN REMOTE PROPERTY US prosecutors revealed Maxwell may co-operate in a federal investigation into Epstein’s alleged sex ring despite the charges against her. The FBI arrested Maxwell after they found she had “slithered away to a gorgeous property” in rural New Hampshire. Acting US lawyer for the Southern District of New York, Audrey Strauss, revealed that she wasn’t worried about Maxwell’s perjury charge when it came to her ability to testify against others. “In the event that if she even were to become a cooperator, I think we could deal with that,” Ms Strauss said, according toThe Sun. There is an ongoing investigation into the alleged sex trafficking ring run by Epstein and Maxwell, they are currently the only people charged in the case. Prosecutors described the life of “privilege and luxury” Maxwell had enjoyed for the past year. The British socialite was arrested early on Thursday local time by the FBI and child sex crimes investigators and charged with six counts including conspiracy to entice minors into sex with herself and Epstein, transporting minors for sex and perjury. A court ordered her to be held behind bars without bail. She faces up to 35 years in prison. “Today, after many years, Ghislaine Maxwell finally stands charged for her role in these crimes,” Ms Strauss said in a press conference. “Maxwell lied because the truth, as alleged, was almost unspeakable. Maxwell enticed young girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into a trap that Epstein had set for them.” “I will say we would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us. We would like to have the benefit of his statement,” Strauss said. “Our doors remain open, as we previously said and we would welcome him coming in.” Buckingham Palace said they would not comment on Maxwell’s arrest. “This is not something for us to comment on,” a spokesman said. Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who is representing several Epstein victims, called on Prince Andrew to be interviewed by US authorities. “The arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell is a major development and demonstrates that the criminal investigation is serious and that it continues,” Ms Allred said in a statement. “It is long overdue for Prince Andrew to stop making excuses and to stop playing the victim. He should contact the FBI immediately and agree to appear for an interview.” PRINCE ANDREW ‘BEWILDERED’ Meanwhile, Prince Andrew has claimed he was “bewildered” by demands for him to submit to questioning about Epstein after his friend Maxwell was arrested in America. US authorities claimed Prince Andrew had offered “zero co-operation” and were considering hauling him to Westminster Magistrates Court to give evidence in person. The Duke has countered that his legal team has offered to provide evidence at least twice in the past month. However the sticking point has been that he wants to answer questions in writing, rather than in person, particularly after his trainwreck BBC interview last year where he was accused of being insensitive to Epstein’s victims. A source close to Prince Andrew’s legal team said on Friday: “The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the [Department of Justice] in the last month and to date we have had no response.” HOW MAXWELL KNEW PRINCE ANDREW Maxwell was a close friend of Prince Andrew’s and, in 1999, introduced him to Epstein. FBI charges claim that some of the offending, which Maxwell also allegedly participated in, happened in London, where the socialite has a flat. Maxwell, the daughter of disgraced media mogul and fraudster Robert Maxwell, met Prince Andrew while she was at Oxford University, with her father’s links also opening doors into some of the wealthiest and most influential circles. His drowning death in 1991 dented his daughter’s fortunes but she moved to New York where her British society links helped her make friends with the rich and famous. Prince Andrew kept in touch with Maxwell and invited her and Epstein to spend a weekend at the Queen’s Sandringham estate in 2000. The Duke claimed in an interview last year that Epstein was invited only because he was Maxwell’s boyfriend at the time. Prince Andrew previously disclosed that the pair became associates in 1999, after Maxwell introduced them, and has faced heated criticism for continuing the friendship until at least 2010. This was after Epstein had served an 18 month jail term in Florida for soliciting prostitution with a minor. The scandal has also drawn in the daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, Katherine Keating, who was filmed farewelling Andrew at the front door of Epstein’s New York mansion when he was staying there in 2010. There is no suggestion Ms Keating, who was reportedly friends with the Duke, knew of any wrongdoing by Epstein. AUTHORITIES WERE ‘KEEPING TABS’ ON MAXWELL FBI Assistant Director Bill Sweeney said the bureau had been “discretely keeping tabs” on Maxwell’s location as they built their case over the past year. He said the arrest came after the FBI learned that she had “slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire, continuing to live a life of privilege”. She had been staying at the luxury property literally under the nose of authorities. Maxwell is accused of procuring young women and girls for Epstein over several years. An FBI indictment filed in New York on Thursday local time charged her with six counts including conspiracy to entice minors, transporting minors and perjury. “Maxwell assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffery Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims,” the indictment said. “The victims were as young as 14.” A photo of Epstein hugging Maxwell was included in the indictment. Epstein, 66, killed himself last August in a federal jail in New York after he was arrested on child sex trafficking charges. Maxwell’s whereabouts had been unknown for months. Maxwell was ordered held without bail when she appeared via video in a New Hampshire federal court on child sex-trafficking charges. Magistrate Judge Andrea Johnstone apprised Maxwell of the charges against her, and Maxwell answered her questions in a soft voice. After Maxwell, 58, waived her right to have a detention hearing in New Hampshire, the judge ordered her held without bail. “Miss Maxwell, you are remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal,” the judge said. ‘I WAS ECSTATIC’: EPSTEIN ACCUSER SPEAKS OUT One of Epstein’s accusers is “ecstatic” over Maxwell’s arrest and is “grateful” she has been taken into custody. The 43-year-old victim, who has chosen to remain anonymous, alleges the British socialite also sexually abused her and left her with night terrors, the New York Post reports. “When I woke up to the news, I was extremely ecstatic,” the victim, who is one of nine anonymous plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate, told The Post. She added: “I’m so grateful that she has finally been taken into custody and that the authorities have started working on bringing justice for the victims and myself. “She deserves to be behind bars. I’m very happy and very emotional at the same time. It’s just a roller coaster of emotions.” The woman alleges Maxwell personally sexually abused her after grooming her for Epstein. She claims the abuse occurred in the mid to late 1990s, starting with she was 14 and continuing until she was 17. “She participated in the sexual abuse with Epstein. She was involved,” the victim alleged. “She penetrated me with sexual toys, with her fingers. She shaved my private area so that it was in the shape of the heart because she said men thought it was cute.” The victim said she wished Maxwell faced charges that were on par with Epstein’s and claimed they were “co-conspirators”. She said the alleged abuse still has crippling effects on her. “It basically changed the trajectory of my life and it still effects me to this day. The things I had gone through with them, with her, the things that she has done to me,” she said. “I have night terrors, it affects my marriage, it has affected my relationship with my children because some days I have emotional breakdowns where I just can’t be the baseball, soccer mum all the time. “Where I’m in my bedroom hiding because I’m shutting down and that’s something that I’m obviously working on with a therapist,” she said adding that she also takes antidepressants and anxiety medications. The accuser said Maxwell “should be behind bars for the rest of her life”. The woman’s lawyer, Jordan Merson, told The Post: “On behalf of the Epstein victims we are thrilled that Ms. Maxwell has been brought to justice and we look forward to seeing her be held accountable for all that she has done.” ‘VICTIMS WERE AS YOUNG AS 14’ In a six-count Manhattan federal indictment, Maxwell is accused of grooming three underage victims for sex with Epstein in places including his Upper East Side townhouse, New Mexico, Florida and London. “The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,” the indictment says of the conduct that started as early as 1994. Prosecutors argued in a detention memo that she should remain locked up without bail, calling her an extreme flight risk because she has three passports and $A30 million in the bank. Maxwell faces charges of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury. If convicted, she faces up to 35 years in prison. A detention memo said she posed a flight risk because she had travelled at least 15 times internationally in the past three years and has 15 bank accounts with holdings of up to $A30 million. Epstein’s victims have repeatedly called for Maxwell to face charges. Her arrest comes days before the anniversary of Epstein’s arrest last July. Maxwell had been accused of working as a “pimp” to lure young women to work at Epstein’s homes in Miami, New York, New Mexico and an estate in the US Virgin Islands. Ms Roberts has detailed how Maxwell approached her when she was working at a Florida beach club in 2000 and offered her a job as a masseuse at the Palm Beach home of financier Epstein. Maxwell had denied the charges through previous lawsuits. She was arrested in the town of Bradford, New Hampshire, at 8.30am (10.30pm AEST) on Thursday. The indictment alleges Maxwell groomed young women from 1994 until at least 1997 and that she and Epstein knew they were aged under 18 years. “In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims,” it says. The 18-page document lays out how Maxwell and Epstein, who were in a relationship at the time, allegedly befriended the young women by “taking them to the movies and shopping” before “normalising” sexual behaviour. “Maxwell’s presence during minor victims’ interactions with Epstein, including interactions where the minor victim as undressed or that involved sex acts with Epstein, helped put the victims at ease because an adult woman was present,” it states. The pair would also allegedly coerce the women, many of whom have previously been described as vulnerable, by offering them gifts or financial assistance. “As a result, victims were made to feel indebted and believed that Maxwell and Epstein were trying to help them,” it alleges. “Through this process, Maxwell and Epstein enticed victims to engage in sexual activity with Epstein.” The indictment also includes images of Epstein’s multimillion-dollar property portfolio, saying the abuse took place at his homes New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach and at “Maxwell’s personal residence in London”. The alleged victims are not named but referred to by number. Victim-1 was 14 years old when she travelled with the pair, who were in an intimate relationship, to Epstein’s properties in New York and Florida. Victim-2 was aged under 18 when she was groomed through the use of intimate massages by Maxwell at New Mexico around 1996, it alleges. Victim-3 was allegedly “groomed and befriended” by Maxwell in London between 1994 and 1995 when she was a minor and was induced to give “sexualised massages” to Epstein. Maxwell is also accused of perjury for lying under oath in a 2016 deposition in a civil suit brought by one of Epstein’s victims. She allegedly replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about” when asked if she knew about Epstein’s “scheme to recruit underage girls for sexual massages”. “I wasn’t aware that he was having sexual activities with anyone when I was with him other than myself,” she allegedly replied. Maxwell has previously denied she was aware of or participated in any sexual assaults.