Prosecutors slam Ghislaine Maxwell's 'window dressing' passport gambit
On two previous bail attempts, a judge has deemed her a flight risk
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Publishing date:Mar 10, 2021 • 8 hours ago • 2 minute read • comment bubble10 Comments
Jeffrey Epstein, right, and his alleged 'pimp' Ghislaine Maxwell.
Jeffrey Epstein, right, and his alleged 'pimp' Ghislaine Maxwell. GETTY IMAGES
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Socialite and accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s latest scheme to get sprung from a New York jail was met with derision by U.S. federal prosecutors on Wednesday.
Maxwell, 59, who is awaiting her July trial on sex-trafficking charges, has offered to renounce her U.K. and French citizenship — if she gets bail.
But the feds blasted the gambit as “window dressing.”
Maxwell was allegedly the muse and “pimp” of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It’s alleged she groomed girls for sex with the twisted financier.
On two previous bail attempts, a judge has deemed the jet-setter a flight risk.
“The defendant’s claimed ‘willingness to renounce her citizenship in both the United Kingdom and France’ is little more than window dressing,” a trio of assistant U.S. attorneys wrote to Judge Alison Nathan.
Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail in Manhattan Federal Court July 14, 2020.
Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail in Manhattan Federal Court July 14, 2020. PHOTO BY JANE ROSENBERG /REUTERS
Part of the problem is that it’s a moot point: Maxwell committed the alleged crimes while a citizen of France.
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The French Ministry of Justice was contacted by its American counterpart to get a legal opinion from a country that categorically refuses to “deport its own citizens for crimes they have committed.”
France said the socialite’s “offer to waive her French citizenship will not make her eligible to be extradited from France because, for purposes of extradition, nationality is assessed as of the time the charged offence was committed.”
Even if Maxwell renounced her citizenship, she would still be considered French and not subject to deportation.
Meanwhile, her older brother is painting Ghislaine’s incarceration as akin to being caged at Alcatraz or Guantanamo Bay.
Since she’s been caged, her handful of high-flying supporters have unleashed a torrent of complaints about jail conditions and her fundamental goodness.
“No human being should have to go through what she’s been put through,” her brother Ian Maxwell told the BBC. “It is really degrading … this is not the way that a democratic country should be running its prison system. It’s grotesque and in that respect it amounts to torture.”
He added: “I am worried about Ghislaine’s capacity to endure much more of this treatment.”
And like many others, he blames the tabloid press for portraying Ghislaine as a sex-crazed monster.
Ghislaine Maxwell has denied any involvement in grooming minors for sex with her former boyfriend and sugar daddy Epstein.
But she remains resolute despite the government’s “grotesque overreaction” to the Epstein episode, her brother said.
Ian said the siblings had drifted apart and he only met Epstein once.
“I wish she’d never met the man, obviously it goes without saying,” he told the BBC.
Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded not guilty.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
torontosun.com
On two previous bail attempts, a judge has deemed her a flight risk
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Publishing date:Mar 10, 2021 • 8 hours ago • 2 minute read • comment bubble10 Comments
Jeffrey Epstein, right, and his alleged 'pimp' Ghislaine Maxwell.
Jeffrey Epstein, right, and his alleged 'pimp' Ghislaine Maxwell. GETTY IMAGES
Article content
Socialite and accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s latest scheme to get sprung from a New York jail was met with derision by U.S. federal prosecutors on Wednesday.
Maxwell, 59, who is awaiting her July trial on sex-trafficking charges, has offered to renounce her U.K. and French citizenship — if she gets bail.
But the feds blasted the gambit as “window dressing.”
Maxwell was allegedly the muse and “pimp” of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It’s alleged she groomed girls for sex with the twisted financier.
On two previous bail attempts, a judge has deemed the jet-setter a flight risk.
“The defendant’s claimed ‘willingness to renounce her citizenship in both the United Kingdom and France’ is little more than window dressing,” a trio of assistant U.S. attorneys wrote to Judge Alison Nathan.
Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail in Manhattan Federal Court July 14, 2020.
Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail in Manhattan Federal Court July 14, 2020. PHOTO BY JANE ROSENBERG /REUTERS
Part of the problem is that it’s a moot point: Maxwell committed the alleged crimes while a citizen of France.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The French Ministry of Justice was contacted by its American counterpart to get a legal opinion from a country that categorically refuses to “deport its own citizens for crimes they have committed.”
France said the socialite’s “offer to waive her French citizenship will not make her eligible to be extradited from France because, for purposes of extradition, nationality is assessed as of the time the charged offence was committed.”
Even if Maxwell renounced her citizenship, she would still be considered French and not subject to deportation.
Meanwhile, her older brother is painting Ghislaine’s incarceration as akin to being caged at Alcatraz or Guantanamo Bay.
Since she’s been caged, her handful of high-flying supporters have unleashed a torrent of complaints about jail conditions and her fundamental goodness.
“No human being should have to go through what she’s been put through,” her brother Ian Maxwell told the BBC. “It is really degrading … this is not the way that a democratic country should be running its prison system. It’s grotesque and in that respect it amounts to torture.”
He added: “I am worried about Ghislaine’s capacity to endure much more of this treatment.”
And like many others, he blames the tabloid press for portraying Ghislaine as a sex-crazed monster.
Ghislaine Maxwell has denied any involvement in grooming minors for sex with her former boyfriend and sugar daddy Epstein.
But she remains resolute despite the government’s “grotesque overreaction” to the Epstein episode, her brother said.
Ian said the siblings had drifted apart and he only met Epstein once.
“I wish she’d never met the man, obviously it goes without saying,” he told the BBC.
Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded not guilty.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
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Prosecutors slam Ghislaine Maxwell's 'window dressing' passport gambit
Maxwell, 59, awaiting her July trial on sex trafficking charges, has offered to renounce her U.K. and French citizenship — if she gets bail.