Ghislaine Maxwell was ordered locked up in New Hampshire on Thursday pending her transfer to face trial in Manhattan for allegedly recruiting underage girls so they could be sexually abused by her ex-lover, infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, 58, waived her right to seek release on bond following her blockbuster arrest earlier in the day, although defense lawyer Lawrence Vogelman said she reserved the right to do so once in New York.
Prosecutors had filed legal papers ahead of the hearing that called the disgraced British socialite an “extreme” flight risk on grounds that she has three passports and $20 million in various bank accounts.
Maxwell didn’t enter a plea to the six felony counts in the indictment against her, which alleges that she schemed with Epstein — a financier who committed suicide following his arrest last year — and lied about it during a sworn deposition in 2016.
Due to the coronavirus crisis, Maxwell appeared via video before Concord federal Magistrate Judge Andrea Johnstone, who said the defendant was “participating from the facility where she’s being held.”
Maxwell spoke in a soft voice to answer about a dozen technical and procedural questions from the judge.
“I can hear you,” Maxwell told the judge near the start of the hearing.
Earlier, Johnstone told her, “In order for me to make eye contact with you, it looks like I’m looking off into the distance and I apologize for that.”
Reporters and other members of the public were permitted to listen in via teleconference, but couldn’t see what was happening.
In addition to waiving her right to seek bond, Maxwell waived her right to challenge her transfer to New York, where she’ll be formally arraigned on her indictment.
It’s unclear when that might happen, a source said, noting the federal Bureau of Prisons is backlogged with sentenced inmates awaiting transfer due to the pandemic — with some already delayed for several weeks.
In the meantime, Maxwell will be held at the Merrimack County Jail in Boscawen, the source said.
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