Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to abuse teenage girls without his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, one of her accusers has told a court.
Maxwell, the ex-partner of the convicted paedophile, faces up to 35 years in prison over allegations she recruited teenage girls - with one as young as 14 years old - for the businessman to sexually abuse from 1994 to 1997.
She is also accused of lying about her role in depositions in 2016.
Maxwell appeared via video link at the Manhattan courthouse from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, with her hair pulled back and wearing a brown t-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses.
The 58-year-old was charged with six criminal counts - four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts and two for perjury.
When asked by US District Judge Alison Nathan how she pleaded to the charges, Maxwell said: "Not guilty, your honour."
The judge then scheduled her trial for 12 July 2021, with prosecuting lawyer Alison Moe estimating it could take three weeks.
In arguing against Maxwell being granted bail as she awaits trial, two of her accusers gave written statements to the court, while one spoke via video link.
Ms Moe read a statement from one of the anonymous accusers who described Maxwell's "calculating" manipulation.
The accuser said: "She [Maxwell] was in charge. She egged him [Epstein] on."
The woman added: "I have great fear that Ghislaine Maxwell will flee."
Annie Farmer, another accuser, who appeared via video link, said she met Maxwell when she was 16 and called her a "sexual predator who has never showed any remorse".
She said she poses a danger, has committed perjury and has contacts around the world.
Maxwell's lawyers have requested the British socialite be bailed for $5m (£3.9m) with electronic monitoring and home confinement.
However, prosecutors want her to remain in detention, saying she is an "extreme flight risk" with the means to escape the country and has two other passports - British and French - and France will not extradite one of its own citizens to the US.
Ms Moe told the court Maxwell has not fully disclosed her finances, she has strong international ties, has the ability to live beyond the reach of extradition "indefinitely" and has a strong incentive to flee.
Maxwell's lawyers said she has offered to stay in a luxury hotel in Manhattan while on bail, paid for by herself.
She added that Maxwell claims to "have zero dollars per month of income", but the lawyer argued that she has access to "significant, undetermined and undisclosed wealth".
Ms Moe also claimed Maxwell has provided "limited, unverified and questionable" information to authorities.
The prosecution said Maxwell posed as a journalist called "Janet Marshall" when she looked around the New Hampshire estate where she was arrested on 2 July, and was able to pass real estate transactions using the fake name.
She had another alias, "G Max", which the prosecution claim she used to conceal another asset from the court.
Maxwell told the FBI she only had permission to stay in the New Hampshire home and did not know the name of the corporation that bought the home.
Maxwell's court appearance comes a year after Epstein took his own life in prison, several weeks after he too was confronted by two accusers at a bail hearing.
They had insisted that he should remain behind bars while awaiting sex trafficking charges, which alleged he abused girls at his Manhattan and Florida mansions in the early 2000s.
Maxwell has been held without bail since her arrest at the million-dollar house where prosecutors say she hid from FBI agents who had to knock down the door to arrest her.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2doaXNsYWluZS1tYXh3ZWxsLXBsZWFkcy1ub3QtZ3VpbHR5LXRvLXJlY3J1aXRpbmctZ2lybHMtZm9yLWplZmZyZXktZXBzdGVpbi0xMjAyODU4MtIBc2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9naGlzbGFpbmUtbWF4d2VsbC1wbGVhZHMtbm90LWd1aWx0eS10by1yZWNydWl0aW5nLWdpcmxzLWZvci1qZWZmcmV5LWVwc3RlaW4tMTIwMjg1ODI?oc=5
2020-07-14 18:10:02Z
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