Legal representatives of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and associate of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, have asked a judge to schedule a Friday court appearance for their client.
According to a Reuters report, U.S. prosecutors said in a letter the defence lawyer for Maxwell, who has been detained without bail after agreeing to be moved to New York, would like a bail hearing on Friday after written arguments are submitted by both sides.
Maxwell, 58, was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire, where she had been laying low since December, the FBI said last week.
In a letter on Sunday to Judge Alison Nathan at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, acting United States Attorney Audrey Strauss said Maxwell’s defense lawyer, Christian Everdell, has requested a Friday, July 10, bail hearing.
An indictment made public last week alleged Maxwell facilitated Epstein’s crimes by “helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse” girls as young as 14.
Maxwell has previously repeatedly denied wrongdoing and called some of the claims against her “absolute rubbish.”
The indictment included counts 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.
She allegedly coaxed the victims into giving Epstein nude massages during which they were sexually abused.
“In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims,” the indictment says.
She faces an effective life sentence if found guilty.
Epstein killed himself in a federal detention centre in New York last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
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