Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of aiding in her former partner Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minor girls, faces two more charges, a new Manhattan federal court indictment filed on Monday reveals.
This indictment also identified a new accuser in the case, referred to as “minor victim-4” in court papers, and expanded the timeframe of Maxwell’s alleged participation in Epstein’s abuse by seven years – from 1994 to 2004, rather than from 1994 to 1997.
The new charges, sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor, involve “minor victim-4”.
The indictment alleges that “minor victim-4” was “recruited to provide Epstein with sexualized massages” that he or his associates – including Maxwell – paid for.
Maxwell allegedly met “minor victim-4” at Epstein’s south Florida home in 2001, when the girl was around 14-years-old, and “interacted with [her] on multiple occasions”, according to court papers.
During their interactions, which happened from 2001 to 2004, Maxwell allegedly “groomed minor victim – 4 to engage in sexual acts with Epstein through multiple means.”
Maxwell did so by asking “minor victim-4” about her family and life. She “also sought to normalize inappropriate and abusive conduct by, among other things, discussing sexual topics in front of minor victim-4 and being present when minor victim-4 was nude in the massage room of the Palm Beach residence,” according to the court documents.
Maxwell, and Epstein also is now accused of encouraging this girl “to recruit other young females to provide sexualized massages to Epstein”.
She did so, the indictment claims, by bringing “multiple females, including girls under the age of 18” to Epstein’s south Florida home.
“On such occasions, both minor victim-4 and the girl she brought were paid hundreds of dollars in cash,” court papers state.
Maxwell has maintained her innocence since her arrest last summer at a secluded luxury home in New Hampshire.
She is being held in federal detention in Brooklyn.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was found dead in his cell in federal custody in New York in August 2019, where he was awaiting trial on serious charges just over a month after his arrest on charges of sex trafficking girls as young as 14.