Update, July 6, 10:20 p.m.: All parties “will be able to proceed remotely on the morning of July 14, 2020,” according to a letter filed late Monday by Maxwell’s lawyers. That is Tuesday of next week.
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The parties in the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, have jointly asked the Southern District of New York to arraign Maxwell and hear bail arguments on July 10, which is this coming Friday.
Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire last week on New York-based charges that she conspired with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse minors in the 1990s. At a July 2 hearing in New Hampshire, Maxwell declined to make a bail argument, guaranteeing her return to New York in custody. Maxwell also waived an identity hearing in New Hampshire, admitting, in other words, that she was the person that had been indicted in New York.
The issue of bail is going to receive significant attention in this case. Federal prosecutors, whose interest in locating Maxwell is well-documented, previously argued that Epstein should be held without bail. In July 2019, the judge agreed that Epstein should remain jailed ahead of trial, in part, because he was a “classic” flight risk. In Aug. 2019, Epstein officially died by suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
In a letter filed over the weekend, the government said that the U.S. Marshals Service was “acting expeditiously” to bring Maxwell to New York and expected her to arrive in the Southern District “early this week.” Prosecutors asked Judge Alison J. Nathan for time to let both parties to file written bail submissions to the court and asked the court to waive “speedy trial” time between Maxwell’s arrest and initial New York appearance. The government said the parties would be discussing a protective order relating to discovery materials that would protect identities of “third parties,” victims included. The defense agreed.
The indictment, unsealed July 2, 2020, alleged that between 1994 and 1997, Maxwell and Epstein exploited girls as young as 14, including by enticing them to travel and transporting them for the purpose of engaging in illegal sex acts. Maxwell “played a critical role in the grooming and abuse of minor victims that took place in locations including New York, Florida, and New Mexico,” according to the SDNY press release.
Maxwell was also charged with perjury related to false deposition testimony about her knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of minors in a Southern District civil case.
[Image via DOJ]
