Prosecutors from the public-corruption unit in the Manhattan US attorney’s office are on the case, suggesting a public official may be involved
Ghislaine Maxwell in 2013. Picture: HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
The charges paint Maxwell as a central figure in Epstein’s criminal enterprise. She spent years at his side. He described her as his “best friend”. She was his girlfriend for a time, though their relationship truly deepened in the years Maxwell was organising his affairs, an arrangement that included running his households and piloting his helicopter.
Epstein’s high-powered network means there’s potential for a public reckoning that could tarnish top figures on Wall Street, in corporate America and in Washington. Perhaps more important, a trial would at long last give victims a chance to face at least one of their alleged tormentors. Prosecutors described Maxwell as one of the “villains” at the centre of Epstein’s exploitation of girls, saying she lured them into his clutches. She helped “normalise” the sexual abuse by her presence as a mature woman and by feigning interest in and friendship with the girls, Audrey Strauss, the acting US attorney in Manhattan, said at a news conference.
Should Maxwell take her case to trial, the government will be forced to disclose much of the evidence it’s amassed. Epstein’s death last year in prison, which authorities ruled a suicide, appeared at the time to put an end to such a possibility.
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