FBI agents almost blew the $4.9M covert operation to storm Ghislaine Maxwell’s home
FBI agents preparing to storm the New Hampshire hideout of
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein and alleged madam,
nearly blew the entire $4.9million covert operation after a neighbor complained
about planes circling overhead.
Maxwell was taken into custody in Bradford, a small town in
New Hampshire, on Thursday morning. Special Agent William Sweeney said at a
press conference later that the FBI was ‘discreetly keeping tabs’ on her for
some time and that she recently moved to the property.
But as agents prepared to move in on Maxwell, a neighbor
approached a convoy of vehicles parked nearby.
One resident of the area told the Mirror: ‘The planes had
been buzzing around since 5am. They were a nuisance. We began calling each
other to find out what the noise was about. Finally one snapped and drove down
to where the vehicles were lined up.
‘He demanded to know who they were and they replied they
were from the New England Aerial map society – it was totally fictitious. The
problem the FBI had was that the guy is an expert in maps and geology. It’s
what he does for a living.’
According to that resident, the upset neighbor demanded that
he see inside their van but was told to back off.
‘He told his wife, and she called the police on the FBI. It
was hilarious,’ the other resident told the Mirror.
The Daily Mail last week revealed that Maxwell bought the
156-acre property with cash, using an LLC to hide her identity, in December.
About 24 agents arrested her on Thursday morning.
According to the Mirror, she was wearing jogging bottoms and
t-shirt when she was arrested.
No other circumstances surrounding her arrest are known.
In a videolink court appearance on Thursday afternoon, her
attorneys agreed to have the case moved to the Southern District of New York –
where she is being charged.
Prosecutors asked the judge to deny her bail, saying she is
a flight risk with an international network of friends and access to unlimited
resources.
She has been held for now without bail. It’s unclear where
she will be detained before her next court appearance but the judge said she would
be ‘temporarily’ placed in custody.
A grand jury returned a sealed, six-count indictment against
her on June 29, almost a year after Epstein was charged.
It accuses her of enticing underage girls to travel for sex,
actually having sex with them and Epstein and later lying about it under oath
in depositions when she was being sued by Virginia Giuffre Roberts, one of
Epstein’s accusers who says she had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17.
The charges relate to incidents that happened between 1994
and 1997 and involve three unnamed victims, the youngest of whom was 14.
The alleged abuse happened at Epstein’s homes in New York,
Florida and New Mexico and at Maxwell’s home in London.
Epstein has been accused of abusing dozens more girls and
Maxwell is tangentially associated with the decades of alleged horror because,
the accusers say, she was always by his side or making arrangements for him and
them.
Maxwell, the British socialite daughter of the late,
disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell whose impressive international
network of friends and acquaintances includes the Clintons, has been a ghost
since Epstein was arrested last June on charges of sex trafficking.
She is the one who introduced him to Prince Andrew and set
up the 2001 London night out when the royal allegedly had sex with Giuffre.
On Thursday, Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss said the
investigation into Epstein’s decades of abuse is ongoing and that she’d
‘welcome’ Prince Andrew ‘coming in to provide a statement’, prompting
speculation that he may among people investigators may focus their attention on
next.
‘We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us. We
would like to have the benefit of his statement. Our doors remain open. We
would welcome him coming in and giving us an opportunity to hear his
statement,’ she said.
It opens the door to questions of jurisdiction and whether
or not US Attorney Strauss may charge for alleged incidents that happened in
London and not America.
Among the claims in the indictment is that Maxwell groomed
one of the victims in London. At her press conference, Strauss said some of the
sexual abuse also happened at Maxwell’s house in London.
The charges against Maxwell are: 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.
The indictment reads in part: ‘Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated
Jeffrey Epstein’s access to minor victims knowing that he had a sexual
preference for underage girls and that he intended to engage in sexual activity
with those victims’.
When she met Epstein, she had an astonishing network of
influential and important friends and acquaintances around the world which many
say is what drew him to her.
Among the allegations in the indictment is that Maxwell
groomed the girls, including one in London.
‘Victim 1′ met Maxwell when she was 14 in 1994,’ the
indictment reads. ‘Maxwell ‘groomed [her] by taking her to the movies and on
shopping trips.
‘She also asked her about school, her classes, her family
and other aspects of her life.
‘She then sought to normalize inappropriate and abusive
conduct by, among other things, undressing in front of her and being present
when she undressed in front of Epstein,’ according to the indictment.
The trio then engaged in ‘group massage sex’ on more than
one occasion, the indictment claims.
‘Victim 2’ met
Ghislaine in 1996 and groomed her at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.
‘Victim 3’ met Maxwell in London in 1994 and was groomed
until 1995 where she had sex with them.
At the press conference Strauss, said: ‘Maxwell enticed
minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she
and Epstein had set for them.
‘She pretended to be a woman they could trust, all the while
she was setting them up to be sexually abused by Epstein in some cases, by
Maxwell herself.
‘Today after many years, Ghislaine Maxwell finally stands
charged for her role in these crimes.’
FBI Special Agent William Sweeney said the bureau had been
‘keeping tabs’ on Maxwell ‘for some time’.
‘We have been discreetly keeping tabs on Maxwell for some
time.
‘She slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire,
continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims continue to live with
the trauma inflicted on them years earlier.’
Maxwell has not been seen since August 2019 when she was
spotted at an In-N-Out Burger, ten days after Epstein’ s suicide.
Reports soon emerged those images may have been ‘faked’ by
her lawyer to disguise her whereabouts.
She has made no public comment about the scandal or about
Epstein’s death last August and her whereabouts have been largely unknown.
DailyMail.com tracked her down in a small New England town
where she was living with tech CEO Scott Borgerson in August 2019 but aside
from that, her movements have been a mystery.
Since Epstein’s arrest and suicide, his victims have
demanded that others involved in the abuse be brought to justice. Maxwell has
always been at the top of their list.
She allegedly approached girls in high schools, at country
clubs and even in the street if she thought they would be to Epstein’s liking.
She would tell them that she worked for a wealthy man who
would generously help them if they agreed to come to his home and massage him
for money, the women say.
Giuffre has shared the most explosive allegations against
her.
She claims that Maxwell took part in her first sexual
encounter with Epstein and that the three of them regularly had sex.
She also claims that when she tried to break free from
Epstein, Maxwell threatened her.
Others have told how Maxwell facilitated their travel and
taught them how to please the financier sexually.
When Epstein was arrested in Palm Beach in 2007, she stood
by him, writing in a character statement that he’d helped her through the death
of her father.
Maxwell lived for years with Epstein and was his frequent
travel companion on trips around the world.
Epstein killed himself in a federal detention center in New
York last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
He was initially investigated in Florida and pleaded guilty
to state charges in 2008 that allowed him to avoid a lengthy prison sentence.
He was free a little after a year in prison.
Maxwell has, for years, been accused by many women of
recruiting them to give Epstein massages, during which they were pressured into
sex. Those accusations, until now, never resulted in criminal charges.
She is facing allegations 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 could face life in prison on the most
serious charge – transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal
sexual activity – which carries a minimum 10 year sentence.
Comments
Post a Comment