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Ghislaine Maxwell and husband Scott Borgerson pledge $30 million bail for Christmas in freedom
Ghislaine Maxwell, 1998
Ghislaine Maxwell and her husband, the millionaire American shipping entrepreneur Scott Borgerson, have pledged to put up $30 million in bail money in order to get her out of jail in time for Christmas.
The Telegraph reports that Maxwell will go to court in the coming days, where lawyers will argue for her release in advance of her trial, scheduled for July 2021. Those close to Maxwell have alleged that the US authorities are ‘demonising’ the former socialite to detract from their own ‘incompetence and embarrassment’ over the death of her former boyfriend and long-term associate, Jeffrey Epstein. A convicted paedophile, Epstein was found hanged in his Metropolitan Correctional Centre jail cell in August 2019, while he was awaiting trial for charges relating to the sex trafficking of minors.
It came to light amid legal proceedings this summer that Maxwell was in fact married, sparking much speculation as to who her partner might be. Now the Telegraph has confirmed that the most widely speculated candidate, Scott Borgerson, is indeed her husband. The news outlet reports that friends say the 44-year-old tech CEO Borgerson is devastated that his wife remains in custody and is proposing a bail bond of almost $25 million. The couple would forfeit the sum if Maxwell went on the run, which is intended to act as an assurance against such an eventuality.
SCOTT BORGERSON
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A further $5 million in bail money has reportedly been guaranteed by Maxwell’s siblings, including her brothers, businessmen Kevin and Ian Maxwell. A private security company has put up a further $1 million, which will be lost if Maxwell eludes its surveillance, having stated that she will be bailed under a form of house arrest and wear an electronic tag. A friend told the Telegraph that Maxwell has agreed to forfeit any right to prevent her extradition from France (which she could be eligible for as the holder of a French passport, in addition to UK and US passports) to further prove that she does not pose a flight risk.
The staggering bail bond far exceeds that of other alleged sex offenders who were granted bail; Harvey Weinstein was permitted to remain out of custody after posting $1 million bail and giving up his passport; Bill Cosby was also freed after putting up the same sum. Both men were subsequently convicted of sexual crimes.
A close family friend of the Maxwells, Brian Basham, who is heading up the ‘Get Ghislaine Out campaign’, is quoted in the Telegraph as stating: ‘The State has reverse engineered the whole case, to mask its failure. There was no indication that Ghislaine was in the frame at all whilst Epstein was alive. She had plenty of opportunity to flee but she stayed put. Her lawyers knew where she was but she hid from the tabloid press who were hunting her – one even offered £10,000 for news of her whereabouts. She was never charged with anything.’
Elisabeth and Robert Maxwell with their children Kevin, Philip, Ian, Anne, Christine, Isabel and Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell
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He went on: ‘Through appalling mismanagement Epstein died in custody. The United States Attorney General William Barr has said he was “livid” about that and vowed Ghislaine will not be allowed to die in jail. That’s why overzealous prison staff are waking her every 15 minutes throughout the night and shining a flashlight in her face… Having lost the opportunity to boast brilliance in an all-singing-and-dancing trial, the State is covering its incompetence and embarrassment by demonising Ghislaine, first in a show trial press conference and now by incarcerating her quite literally in worse conditions than even the most dangerous terrorist.
‘The State is engaged in a near criminal conspiracy to mask its incompetence by keeping Ghislaine illegally imprisoned and by parading her as a proxy for Epstein, with whom she has had no relationship for years.’ Basham concluded: ‘Maxwell is not Epstein and, definitively, she is innocent.’
The 58-year-old former socialite, the youngest daughter of disgraced British media proprietor Robert Maxwell, is currently being held in a detention centre in Brooklyn. She is said to be effectively living in solitary confinement, housed in a 9ft by 7ft cell. Her lawyers have protested that she has been subject to ‘excessive and invasive’ treatment, alleging that she has lost 15lbs in weight and her hair is falling out.
Having all but disappeared amid investigations into Epstein’s crimes, Maxwell was arrested in July this year by the FBI and police at a secluded property in New Hampshire. She was charged with enticement of minors, sex trafficking and perjury over her links to Epstein and was denied bail by a judge, who argued that she posed a flight risk due to her French passport (a country that does not impose extradition on its citizens).
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