Jeffrey Epstein

Ghislaine Maxwell Denied Latest Bail Request

The multimillionaire British socialite is currently in jail awaiting her trial on charges that she allegedly recruited teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse over a 10-year period

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What to Know

  • Ghislaine Maxwell has lost her latest bail request, according to court documents.
  • The 59-year-old multimillionaire British socialite had sought to be released into home confinement while she awaits her trial for allegedly grooming underage victims for financier Jeffrey Epstein, the Daily News reports, adding that this marks the fifth time she has been denied bail.
  • With the motion denied, Maxwell will remain in prison. Her trial is set to start in November on charges that she allegedly recruited teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse over a 10-year period.

Ghislaine Maxwell has lost her latest bail request, according to court documents.

The 59-year-old multimillionaire British socialite had sought to be released into home confinement while she awaits her trial for allegedly grooming underage victims for financier Jeffrey Epstein, the Daily News reports, adding that this marks the fifth time she has been denied bail.

"Appellant renews her request for pretrial release. In the alternative, she requests that the Court remand this matter to the district court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the conditions of her confinement. The Government opposes the motion," court documents read. "IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion is DENIED."

With the motion denied, Maxwell will remain in prison. She has been held without bail since July on charges alleging she recruited teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 for Epstein to sexually abuse. She has pleaded not guilty.

Her trial is set to start in November. Jury selection can occur in mid-November and opening statements will happen on Nov. 29, U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan wrote in an order issued last month.

The order was issued a day after prosecutors told the judge that both sides would be ready for trial in November, though defense lawyers preferred it begin on Nov. 8 while prosecutors wanted it to start on Nov. 29.

Nathan said jury selection can occur the week of Nov. 15.

The judge scrapped a July 12 trial date after defense lawyers complained that sex trafficking charges added in March left them insufficient time to investigate the new charges and prepare for trial.

Maxwell, 59, has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since last July, when she was arrested at a New Hampshire estate. Nathan has denied bail three times, twice rejecting a $28.5 million proposed package that would have required Maxwell to remain in a New York City dwelling with 24-hour armed guards.

Nathan said she believed Maxwell was a risk to flee despite the U.S. citizen's claims that she was willing to renounce her citizenship in England and France to prove her willingness to appear for trial.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges that she recruited teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 for Epstein to sexually abuse during encounters that sometimes were described as sexualized massages.

Prosecutors say their case hinges primarily on the testimony of four women who were abused, including two who say they were recruited when they were 14 years old.

Defense lawyers have challenged the charges on numerous grounds, though Nathan has rejected most of them. They have succeeded in severing perjury charges from those alleging sex abuse.

Epstein took his life in August 2019 in a federal Manhattan lockup as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Copyright NBC New York/Associated Press
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