Ghislaine Maxwell faces new charges as US expands case

Fourth girl has come forward claiming she was procured for Jeffrey Epstein

Ghislaine Maxwell, right, seen in a picture used during a press conference. AFP

US prosecutors on Monday expanded their criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, saying the British socialite helped procure a fourth underage girl for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.

An amended indictment against Ms Maxwell now covers alleged crimes stretching from 1994 to 2004 in New York and Florida, including accusations that she paid the girl, known as Minor Victim 4, hundreds of dollars for each sexual actwith Epstein.

Ms Maxwell, who was Epstein's long-time associate and former girlfriend, faces new charges of sex-trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor in the eight-count indictment, and earlier charges that include perjury.

She had pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom three teenage girls for sex between 1994 and 1997 in New York.

Ms Maxwell, 59, has been held in a jail in Brooklyn since her arrest last July. Her lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It is unclear whether the new charges could lead to a delay of Ms Maxwell's scheduled July 12 trial before US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, although prosecutors said she should have "ample time" to prepare.

In a letter to the judge, prosecutors said they had given her lawyers the month and year when the fourth victim was born and key evidence about her.

They said they planned to turn over large amounts of other evidence, including statements from more than 250 witnesses related to their investigation of Epstein and his associates.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

His estate was used to create a fund expected to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution to victims of his sexual abuse.

The fund has received more than 175 claims.

According to the amended indictment, Ms Maxwell and Epstein recruited the fourth victim to engage in sex acts with him at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, and successfully encouraged her to recruit other girls to do the same.

The indictment said Epstein's employees, including Ms Maxwell, also sent gifts such as lingerie to the girl's Florida home from New York, where Epstein had a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side. That home was sold this month for $51 million.

In late January and early February, Ms Maxwell filed 12 motions seeking to dismiss all or part of the government case, or at least make it more difficult to win a conviction.

She said the government focused on her only because Epstein killed himself and prosecutors wanted someone else to blame, and that she was covered by his non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida.

She has said the perjury charges, based on depositions from 2016 in a civil lawsuit, should be tossed out because her answers were true, and the grand jury in suburban White Plains, New York, that indicted her had too few non-white jurors.

Last week, another federal judge in Manhattan refused to dismiss espionage charges against a former CIA employee indicted in White Plains early in the Covid-19 pandemic, rejecting the defendant's argument that the jury was not diverse enough.

That ruling may foreshadow the outcome of Ms Maxwell's dismissal request.

On March 22, Judge Nathan rejected her third request for bail, saying she was still a significant flight risk.