Dec. 15 (UPI) — Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell are offering U.S. authorities a $28 million bail package, insisting that the British socialite and accused accomplice of sex offender Jeffery Epstein is not a flight risk.
Maxwell has been in custody since July and has pleaded not guilty to multiple federal counts related to sex trafficking of minors involving Epstein. The charges include conspiracy, perjury, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sexual acts and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
If convicted, Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison. Her trial is scheduled to begin in July.
In their court filing in Manhattan District Court on Monday, defense attorneys proposed the bail offer — and revealed for the first time that Maxwell has been married since 2016.
“Ms. Maxwell now proposes the following $28.5 million bail package, which is exceptional in its scope and puts at risk everything that Ms. Maxwell has — all of her and her spouse’s assets, her family’s livelihood, and the financial security of her closest friends and family — if she were to flee, which she has no intention of doing,” the filing said.
If granted, the bond would be secured with $8 million in property and $500,000 in cash, the filing noted. Additionally, Maxwell’s relatives and friends have agreed to give an additional $5 million.
If released on bail, Maxwell would live somewhere in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or Long Island for the term of the bail and would personally pay for 24-hour surveillance, the proposal states.
“For her own safety, Ms. Maxwell will also have on-premises security guards 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” attorney Mark Cohen 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.”
Prosecutors have argued that Maxwell is a substantial flight risk and cited fiscal transfers totaling more than $20 million from 2007 to 2011 between accounts belonging to she and Epstein, who killed himself in a New York City jail last year while awaiting trial.
The billionaire Epstein had been charged with trafficking girls as young as age 14 in the early 2000s at his homes in Manhattan and Florida. He pleaded not guilty.
