Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney in the Southern District of New York, filed a memo Thursday to keep Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell detained, saying she “poses an extreme risk of flight.”
“For the reasons set forth herein, the Government respectfully submits that Ghislaine Maxwell, the defendant, poses an extreme risk of flight; that she will not be able to rebut the statutory presumption that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the defendant as required … and that the Court should therefore order her detained,” says the memo, filed after Maxwell was charged with helping Epstein groom and abuse underage girls.
It goes on to say “the charges in this case are unquestionably serious.”
“Given the strength of the Government’s evidence and the substantial prison term the defendant would face upon conviction all create a strong incentive for the defendant to flee,” it notes. “That risk is only amplified by the defendant’s extensive international ties, her citizenship in two foreign countries, her wealth, and her lack of meaningful ties to the United States.”
It points out she has three passports as well as wealth and connections, along with “absolutely no reason to stay in the United States and face the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence.”
The indictment, reviewed by TheWrap, cited 1994 to 1997 as the years when she “facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.”