Ghislaine Maxwell seeks release from jail on a proposed $28.5 million bail package

Ghislaine Maxwell, accused of being an accomplice to alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is asking to be released on a proposed $28.5 million bail package, according to court documents.

Maxwell, 58, would remain in the custody of a private security guard at a residence in New York City if she’s allowed to be released, the request said.

“Ms. Maxwell wants to stay in New York and have her day in court so that she can clear her name and return to her family,” the filing states.

The documents filed in federal court on Monday also reveal that Maxwell is married to a US citizen, which was not previously disclosed.

In July, Maxwell was charged by New York federal prosecutors with helping recruit, groom and ultimately sexually abuse minors as young as 14 as part of a sex-trafficking ring allegedly operated by Epstein, her late former boyfriend. US District Judge Alison Nathan ordered her jailed pending trial, saying that her wealth, international ties and “extraordinary capacity to avoid detection” made her a flight risk.

Maxwell, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

About $22.5 million of the bond would be cosigned by Maxwell and her spouse, whose name is redacted from the court filings.

Before this filing, Maxwell had not publicly disclosed being married. The filing claims Maxwell has tried to protect her spouse from harassment, economic harm and physical danger since Epstein was arrested in 2019.

The $22.5 million figure represents the value of all of Maxwell and her spouse’s assets, according to the court filing. Maxwell’s opaque finances were one of the reasons cited by the judge when she was denied bail.

An additional five bonds totaling roughly $5 million would be signed by what the court filing describes as Maxwell’s “closest friends and family members” whose names are also redacted.

“She will not risk destroying the lives and financial well-being of those she holds most dear to live as a fugitive during a worldwide pandemic,” according to the filing.

The company that would provide security to Maxwell would also post a $1 million bond for Maxwell under the proposal.

“The head of the security company has confirmed that they have never done this for any client and that he is willing to do so for Ms. Maxwell because he is confident that she will not try to flee,” the court filing states.

Maxwell would live in a New York City residence that has been cleared by the security company and a security guard, whose name is redacted, would serve as her third-party custodian and live with her in the residence, according to the filing. Under the proposal, Maxwell would need to seek court approval to leave the residence.

Maxwell’s spouse submitted a heavily redacted letter asking Judge Nathan to consider bail for Maxwell, saying “the person described in the criminal charges is not the person we know.”

Her husband wrote that he had not “witnessed anything close to inappropriate” with Maxwell, and said he is praying for Epstein’s victims as well as justice and due process for Maxwell.

In June, prosecutors had urged the judge to order detention for Maxwell, saying her wealth, multiple foreign citizenships, including in France, which doesn’t extradite its citizens, and skill at hiding made her an “extreme” risk of flight.

In the court filing, Maxwell’s attorneys say she was not hiding from the government before her arrest, but rather, trying to “remove herself from the public eye solely to prevent the intrusion of the frenzied press into her personal family life and to protect herself and her spouse.”

“She was trying to protect herself as best as she could from harassment by the press, not capture by law enforcement,” according to the court filing.

As part of the bail package, Maxwell would waive her extradition rights to both France and the UK, according to the court filing.

Her attorneys wrote that their review of more than 2.7 million pages of discovery raise “serious questions about the government’s case,” claiming that none of the reviewed documents corroborates allegations of grooming, sexual assault, or a conspiracy with Epstein by Maxwell.

In 2019, federal prosecutors alleged that Epstein ran a sex trafficking enterprise between 2002 and 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. The indictment also said Epstein worked with employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.

Epstein died on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial in federal prison. The New York City Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled that Epstein died of suicide by hanging, though a doctor hired by Epstein’s family to conduct an independent autopsy has disputed that conclusion.