Throughout the ongoing controversy surrounding Prince Andrew, his late friend Jeffrey Epstein and a series of serious allegations concerning sexual crimes, one person has proved to be the enigmatic face of the whole story. Ghislaine Maxwell, a socialite and heiress who was Jeffrey’s friend and confidante, was put at the centre of news stories thanks to her connection with both him and Prince Andrew. Now, sources say that she has been arrested by the FBI and now faces six charges.
According to NBC, two sources informed News 4 New York that Ghislaine has been arrested ‘on Epstein-related charges’ and ‘is expected to appear in a federal court later today.’ That said, the FBI has not made a statement to the fact, and a representative of the US Attorney’s Office in New York – where the report claims she was arrested – also declined to comment.
That all changed within hours. The indictment released shortly afterward established the charges against her: Ghislaine is accused with conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
These charges relate to a period of time between 1994 and 1997 when, according to the indictment, Ghislaine was in an ‘intimate relationship’ with Epstein. It claims that she ‘assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.’
In addition, there are two claims of perjury, said to have been committed in 2016, with the indictment stating that Ghislaine 'repeatedly lied when questioned about her conduct, including in relation to some of the minor victims.' Up until this point, she has denied any awareness of Epstein’s alleged crimes. He died in August of last year while in prison, as he awaited trial. His death was determined to be suicide.
In a press conference, acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss said that Ghislaine ‘played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify befriend and groom minor victims for abuse. In some cases Maxwell participated in the abuse herself. Maxwell’s presence as an adult woman helped put the victims at ease’, and ‘delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set. She pretended to be a women they could trust, all the while she was setting them up to be sexually abused by Epstein and in some cases by Maxwell herself.’
New York FBI assistant director William Sweeney added that the bureau had been ‘discreetly keeping tabs’ on Ghislaine’s location, and said that they had discovered that ‘she had slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire’. There had been previous reports that she had been spotted in Paris.
Strauss said that the help of Prince Andrew would be appreciated. 'I will say that we would welcome Prince Andrew coming into talk with us, we would like to have the benefit of his statement,' she said.
'Our doors remain open and we would welcome him coming in and giving us an opportunity to hear his statement.'
Sweeney added that Ghislaine’s arrest was peaceful and without incident. The world will wait for the next steps...
READ MORE: Ghislaine Maxwell Has Been Arrested, But Where Had She Been?