US prosecutors say Ghislaine Maxwell should remain in jail, urging a federal judge to reject her proposed $US28.5 million ($A37.5 million) bail package.
Ms Maxwell, the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein charged with helping enable his sexual abuses, was accused of essentially rehashing previously rejected arguments for bail, and that she remains an “extreme flight risk” from “incredibly serious” charges.
In a filing with the US District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors on Friday said “nothing in the renewed bail application alters the analysis that led this court to conclude that the defendant ‘poses a substantial actual risk of flight’, and that no combination of conditions could assure her appearance.”
Ms Maxwell, 58, has been living in a Brooklyn jail since July, when she pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls for sex in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for having denied involvement under oath.
She has proposed living with electronic monitoring in a New York City residence and under 24-hour guard to ensure she remains safe and does not flee.
Ms Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted at her scheduled July 2021 trial.
US District Judge Alison Nathan, who rejected a $US5 million bail package for Maxwell in July, will consider her latest application.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Ms Maxwell’s bail application said she “vehemently maintains her innocence”.
But prosecutors said new details about Ms Maxwell’s finances did not bolster her case, saying her having moved most of her assets to her husband showed her ability to “hide her true wealth”, whose size demonstrated she could “absolutely afford” to flee.
Authorities arrested Ms Maxwell on July 2 at her New Hampshire home.
-with agencies
