Ghislaine Maxwell

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell (born 25 December 1961) is a British socialite known for her association with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In December 2021, she was convicted on five counts relating to the sex trafficking of a child and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Her father was the British publisher Robert Maxwell.

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Quotes

 * It looks real. I think it is.
 * Responding to a question from Alan Dershowitz in an email (2015), as cited in "Ghislaine Maxwell says photograph of 'dear friend' Prince Andrew is fake", The Times (London, 17 October 2022)
 * On the 2001 photograph of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts, one of trafficked victims of Jeffrey Epstein) and Maxwell.


 * Jeffrey and I have everyone on videotape!
 * Quoted by Rebecca Cope "Prince Andrew's cousin Christina Oxenberg willing to speak to FBI about Ghislaine Maxwell", Tatler (21 February 2020)


 * Virginia [Giuffre] is an absolute liar and everything she has said is a lie. Therefore, based on those lies I cannot speculate on what anybody else did or didn’t do … everything she said is false.
 * Quoted in "Ghislaine Maxwell arrest sends tremors through Epstein’s celebrity circle, Tom McCarthy and Daniel Strauss", The Guardian (2 July 2020)


 * I don't recognise that picture and I don't believe it is a real picture. There's so many things wrong with it. There is no original and there isn't a true picture and there are that many other things besides that I cannot hardly get into . . . I don't know how many points there are, but there are over 50 problems with the picture.
 * Interviewed from prison, as cited in "Ghislaine Maxwell says photograph of ‘dear friend’ Prince Andrew is fake", The Times (London, 17 October 2022).
 * On the 2001 photograph of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts) and Maxwell. Another Times article says the interview was on TalkTV.

2002

 * Before Clinton, Epstein’s rare appearances in the gossip columns tended to be speculation as to the true nature of his relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell. “It’s a mysterious relationship that they have,” says society journalist David Patrick Columbia. “In one way, they are soul mates, yet they are hardly companions anymore. It’s a nice conventional relationship, where they serve each other’s purposes.”Friends of the two say that Maxwell, whose social life has always been higher-octane than Epstein’s, lent a little pizzazz to the lower-profile Epstein. Indeed, at a party at Maxwell’s house, her friends say, one is just as apt to see Russian ladies of the night as one is to see Prince Andrew. The Oxford-educated Maxwell, described by many as a man-eater (she flies her own helicopter and was recently seen dining with Clinton at Nello’s on Madison Avenue), lives in her own townhouse a few blocks away. Epstein is frequently seen around town with a bevy of comely young women but there has been no boldfaced name to replace Maxwell.
 * Landon Thomas Jr. "Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery", New York (28 October 2002)

2018

 * 2015 January: Virginia Roberts files court papers in Florida claiming that she was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew and lawyer Alan Dershowitz when she was underage. In a sworn affidavit, she provides photographs of her with the prince and with Epstein’s close associate, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. She claims Maxwell worked as Epstein’s madam, which she denies. Dershowitz and the prince deny her claims as well, setting off a series of legal actions between Dershowitz and Roberts’ attorneys that are later resolved in an out-of-court settlement.
 * Julie K. Brown "For years, Jeffrey Epstein abused teen girls, police say. A timeline of his case", Miami Herald (28 November 2018)


 * One of the unexpected twists in this sordid tale involves Virginia Roberts, who, at 16-years in 1999, was working as a locker-room attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and was solicited by an Epstein "associate," Ghislaine Maxwell, to become part of Epstein’s prostitution ring.
 * David Rosen "The Swamp Stinks: Trump & Washington’s Rot", CounterPunch (7 December 2018)

2019

 * (Virginia) Giuffre said that Maxwell recruited her and other high-school age girls to perform sexual favors for Epstein. She also took part in the abuse, Giuffre added. Maxwell, 57, denies the allegations and has called Giuffre a liar, leading Giuffre to sue Maxwell for defamation.
 * Peter Hutchison "Who's Who in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal A look at those linked to the billionaire found dead in his cell, from US presidents and senators to a British prince, female socialite and a French modelling agent", The Times of Israel (13 August 2019)


 * The Oxford-educated British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced media tycoon, Robert Maxwell, is at the very centre of controversy this week... it’s a case of did she, didn’t she – to what extent was she bound up, even leading an underground operation? The recently released papers suggest that she was involved in ‘recruiting, maintaining...and trafficking girls for Epstein’. She faces a conspiracy investigation in the United States along with the other former assistants of Epstein – all allegations which she firmly denies.
 * Annabel Sampson "Who is Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite at the centre of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal", Tatler (15 August 2019)


 * Lady Harvey also spoke on her friendship with Maxwell, claiming she had not seen her in over a year and believed she would never be seen in public again.  She said: 'With Epstein and Ghislaine it was teamwork. He had the finances, she had the black book and they were a great pair together, and together they were taking over the world... I haven't seen her since September last year at a friend's baby shower. I don't think anyone is going to find her. She's gone far away. She's a bit like a James Bond character.  She's quite a unique person and I don't believe anyone is going to find her. I don't think we will ever see her again, it's going to be like Robert Maxwell continued; she will continue that family mystery.'
 * Annabelle Spranklen "Lady Victoria Hervey defends the Duke of York and claims Ghislaine Maxwell has 'gone far away", Tatler (20 November 2019)


 * Royal expert Russell Myers said... Prince Andrew and the royal family... could soon face an absolute tinderbox if and when Epstein’s former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, agrees to share details regarding her ex and Prince Andrew’s friendship. “As I understand it, there is a bidding war going on for her story – another interview. The palace must be quaking in their boots because not only Prince Andrew’s given that awful interview...”  ..Prince Andrew confirmed that he was friends with Maxwell. He also said that it wouldn’t have been possible for him to avoid Epstein because they were linked together by Maxwell.
 * Camille Heimbrod "Royal Family Could Face ‘Absolute Tinderbox’ If Jeffrey Epstein’s Ex-Partner Exposes Andrew Connection", International Business Times (13 December 2019)

2020

 * Nothing will heal the trauma. These women are affected for their whole lives, but at the very least they should have money. She definitely has millions. She wanted to marry him. She didn't, but she got a lot of money. Cash and assets. All blood money.'
 * Rebecca Cope Christina Oxenberg quoted in "Prince Andrew's cousin Christina Oxenberg willing to speak to FBI about Ghislaine Maxwell", Tatler (21 February 2020)


 * Together, Maxwell and Epstein compiled a glitzy Rolodex, from Prince Andrew to Bill Clinton to Donald Trump. They popped up at fundraisers and galas, becoming two darlings of high society. Those would largely stop after Epstein was convicted in 2008 of procuring a girl below age 18 for prostitution—a lenient and deeply suspicious plea agreement. But she would maintain her own stops on the society circuit until as recently as 2014. Then investigators and journalists started probing the dark underbelly of Epstein and Maxwell's world. As the reports rained down, they were isolated and renounced. Epstein was the primary target, but when he died, the focus shifted to Maxwell. Multiple Epstein accusers have named her in civil suits for the role they say she played in Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking operation.
 * Noah Kirsch "Long Before Ghislaine Maxwell Disappeared, Her Mogul Father Died Mysteriously", Forbes (28 February 2020)


 * In 2015, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein's former sex slaves, had filed a defamation suit against Maxwell. The victim had alleged that she was recruited by Maxwell and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions, once when she was 17 years old.  According to The Sun, even though the case has been settled, sealed and redacted, court filings are said to contain the names of hundreds of Epstein's wealthy and celebrity pals. The court documents include Maxwell's hour-long depositions in the case and a lengthy 418-page transcript under consideration for release...  ABC reported that the sealed court filings are believed to contain the names of hundreds of people, including some hi-profile people, who socialized, traveled or worked with Epstein for more than a decade.
 * Parwinder Sandhu "Ghislaine Maxwell Opposes Unsealing of Court Documents Detailing Her Sex Life, Epstein's Associates", International Business Times (13 June 2020)


 * My whole life revolved around just pleasing these men and keeping Ghislaine and Jeffrey happy... Their whole entire lives revolved around sex.
 * Virginia Giuffre, as cited in Tom McCarthy and Daniel Strauss "Ghislaine Maxwell arrest sends tremors through Epstein’s celebrity circle", The Guardian (2 Jul 2020)


 * New York prosecutors gave another description of Maxwell as they unveiled perjury charges against her on Thursday. “She set the trap,” federal prosecutor Audrey Strauss said of Maxwell’s alleged attempts to recruit girls for Epstein. “She pretended to be a woman they could trust” and “in some cases, Maxwell participated in abuse herself”... One Epstein accuser, Maria Farmer, recalled separately that Maxwell would leave Epstein’s New York mansion saying, “I’ve got to go get girls for Jeffrey.”  Maxwell has denied the accusations. Maxwell’s arrest by FBI agents on Thursday in a small New Hampshire town... sent new tremors through an old network of friends whose members have been scrambling to distance themselves from Epstein...   The network includes not only Prince Andrew, an old Maxwell friend ... It also includes former passengers onboard Epstein’s private plane, dubbed the “Lolita Express”...
 * Tom McCarthy and Daniel Strauss "Ghislaine Maxwell arrest sends tremors through Epstein’s celebrity circle", The Guardian (2 Jul 2020)


 * Ghislaine controlled the girls. She was like the madam. She was like the nuts and bolts of the sex trafficking operation ... to make sure that the girls were doing what they were supposed to be doing... She knew what Jeffrey liked. She worked and helped maintain Jeffrey's standard by intimidation, by intimidating the girls, so this was very much a joint effort."
 * Sarah Ransome, one of Epstein's alleged victims, as cited in "Ghislaine Maxwell caught up in Jeffrey Epstein allegations", BBC News (2 July 2020)


 * Her father died in 1991... After his death, the British media dubbed him the “crook of the century,” when it was revealed that he’d taken hundreds of millions of pounds from his employees pension funds. Maxwell told one news outlet after her father’s death that she felt he was murdered. She moved to the United States the year of her father’s death... In 2000, she moved into a $4.95 million Manhattan townhouse purchased "by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Mr. Epstein’s longtime lawyer."
 * Gabrielle Bruney "Ghislaine Maxwell Knows More About Jeffrey Epstein Than Anyone. She Was Just Arrested in New Hampshire?, Esquire (2 July 2020)


 * Senior U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled Wednesday that Giuffre's lawyers had come into possession of the documents improperly, noting that the protective order could only be enforced during the civil lawsuit proceedings which had already been settled. Preska wrote that all the materials in the files "shall be destroyed." Preska also requested proof that the documentation had been destroyed.
 * Jeffery Martin "Judge Rules Virginia Giuffre's Lawyers Must 'Destroy' Jeffrey Epstein Files", Newsweek (2 July 2020)
 * For a party girl with no parties left to attend, Ghislaine Maxwell's 20-mile journey from her mountain hideaway in Bradford, New Hampshire, to Merrimack county jail was the brutal, cinematic finale to a social highlife that stretched across decades and continents.... a friend of hers came forward yesterday to say she would “never” disclose information about the Duke of York in the Epstein case. Former investment banker Laura Goldman said Maxwell regarded the Duke of York as a friend and was "never going to say anything" about him to prosecutors. But that pressure comes as signs in the US point toward the investigation moving swiftly beyond Maxwell to other figures implicated in the Epstein scandal.
 * Edward Helmore and Mark Townsend "High society to hideaway arrest: Ghislaine Maxwell's dramatic fall", The Guardian (4 July 2020)
 * Should you care about who Ghislaine Maxwell is photographed with? Probably not, seeing as the socialite and confidante of Jeffrey Epstein is photographed with just about everybody. But that doesn’t mean you won’t become enthralled, as thousands have, by an Instagram account dedicated to showing you every celebrity and powerful person photographed with Maxwell, who last week was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
 * Poppy Noor "Who hasn't been photographed with Ghislaine Maxwell?", The Guardian (8 July 2020)


 * As the lurid headlines swirl in the wake of the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein's longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, questions again are surging over what comes next for Britain's Prince Andrew, who is caught up in the high-profile affair.... Juliet Sorensen, a former federal prosecutor and a professor of law at Northwestern University, said the royal would most likely not be shielded by sovereign immunity. "Sovereign immunity would not apply to a case in which a sovereign has engaged in criminal activity," she said. "If somebody is participating in sexual trafficking and exploitation of minors and young women, that has absolutely nothing to do with their duties as a sovereign, so sovereign immunity would not apply."
 * Adela Suliman and Henry Austin "What now for Prince Andrew? Royal faces scrutiny after Ghislaine Maxwell's arrest", NBC News (8 July 2020)
 * She [Maxwell] pretended to be a woman they could trust... Today, after many years, Ghislaine Maxwell finally stands charged for her role in these crimes.” ...The indictment claims Maxwell groomed at least three minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein. (Virginia Roberts Giuffre brought a defamation suit against Maxwell in 2015.) She allegedly befriended them by expressing concern about their lives and families, and then took them to the movies and shopping. According to the indictment, Maxwell would “try to normalise sexual abuse for a minor victim by… discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when a minor victim was undressed, and/or being present for sex acts involving the minor victim and Epstein.” In addition, she faces two counts of perjury for having “repeatedly lied when questioned about her conduct, including in relation to some of the minor victims.”
 * Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. Attorney, as cited in David Rosen "It's Now Ghislaine Maxwell's Turn", CounterPunch (8 July 2020)