NEW YORK _ Ghislaine Maxwell must remain behind bars while awaiting trial on charges of luring underage girls into Jeffrey Epstein's sex abuse scheme, a judge ruled Tuesday, citing the British socialite's foreign ties and opaque finances.
Federal Judge Alison Nathan said the case against Maxwell "appears strong."
"The court concludes even the most restrictive conditions of release would be insufficient," Nathan said.
"Maxwell has failed to submit a full accounting, or even close to a full accounting, of her financial situation. It is practically impossible to set financial bail conditions to ensure her appearance.
"The risks are simply too great," Nathan added from federal court in Manhattan.
Maxwell, wearing a brown jail uniform and appearing via video from a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront, showed no reaction. Earlier in the proceeding, she appeared anxious, nervously looking around and rubbing her eyebrows.
"Not guilty, your honor," she said earlier in the proceeding before learning she would remain at the jail, MDC, until trial currently scheduled for July 12, 2021.
The British socialite was arrested July 2 at a gated $1 million estate in the tiny town of Bradford, New Hampshire. She allegedly ignored an order to open the door to her timber frame mansion and fled to another room before being arrested.
Investigators found a cellphone wrapped in tin foil at the property, an apparent attempt by Maxwell, 58, to prevent law enforcement from tracking her. A security guard at the property said Maxwell was being protected by a company staffed with former British military.
Prosecutors say she enticed underage girls into Jeffrey Epstein's sex abuse "trap" in the mid-1990s. At times, she allegedly participated in the sexual abuse, "normalizing" Epstein's perversions. She's also accused of lying under oath in 2016 while being questioned in connection with a civil lawsuit brought by an Epstein accuser.
Maxwell argued she could be trusted to show up to court. She offered a $5 million bond, secured by six family members and friends. She cited the risk of catching coronavirus, which has ravaged federal lockups around the country, as also a reason for her to get bail. She proposed being held in home confinement.
"Sometimes the simplest point is the most critical one: Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein," her attorney Mark Cohen wrote.
Epstein hanged himself last year at a lower Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
The feds argued Maxwell is a flight risk and has access to "vast wealth" abroad. She is a citizen of the United Kingdom, France and the U.S.
