Ghislaine Maxwell was last night at the centre of a marriage mystery after US prosecutors revealed she has a 'spouse' she refuses ...
Ghislaine Maxwell was last night at the centre of a marriage mystery after US prosecutors revealed she has a 'spouse' she refuses to name.
The sensational twist emerged during the British socialite's failed bid to be freed on bail pending her trial on sex trafficking charges linked to her former boyfriend, paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Her secret marriage was disclosed by US assistant attorney Alison Moe, who told Tuesday's bail hearing in New York that Maxwell, 58, was 'the very definition of a flight risk' and should remain behind bars. The prosecutor attacked her lack of transparency including making 'no mention whatsoever about the financial circumstances or assets of her spouse whose identity she declined to provide to pre-trial services'.
Miss Moe did not say who she believed the spouse to be or give any indication when and where the couple wed.
Maxwell now faces a year in custody at a fortress-like US prison ahead of her trial over allegations she groomed girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse. She denies all the charges, which carry a maximum 35-year term if she is convicted. The judge who denied her bail said the case 'appears strong' but lawyers acting for Epstein's alleged madam, who appeared in court via video link, said she deserved the 'presumption of innocence'.
It was reported that the shock marriage disclosure by the prosecution was intended to show how the daughter of the late disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell has not come clean about her circumstances and finances.
The only other reference to Maxwell being in a relationship was when Miss Moe revealed the socialite had toured her £800,000 bolthole in New Hampshire with an unknown man last year.
Miss Moe said an estate agent described the pair as a couple, – giving their names as Scott and Janet or Jen Marshall. She said it was only later that she realised the woman was Maxwell.
Last summer, Maxwell, was tracked down by MailOnline to Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts, living at a £1.6million home owned by her American toyboy lover Scott Borgerson, 44, a multi-millionaire shipping entrepreneur (pictured)
The prosecutor added: 'The real estate agent told the FBI..the buyers for the house introduced themselves as Scott and Janet Marshall. Both had British accents. Scott Marshall told her he was retired from the British military and was currently working on a book. Janet Marshall described herself as a journalist.'
Last summer, Maxwell, who was educated at top private school Marlborough College, was tracked down by MailOnline to Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts, living at a £1.6million home owned by her American toyboy lover Scott Borgerson, 44, a multi-millionaire shipping entrepreneur. It is unclear if the man who toured the New Hampshire home with Maxwell was Mr Borgerson, whose technology firm CargoMetrics was valued at more than £80million in 2016.
Mr Borgerson, who has been hailed as shipping's answer to Tesla tycoon Elon Musk, is believed to have met Maxwell seven years ago through speaking engagements connected to ocean preservation. Earlier this month, it was reported that the luxury hideout in New Hampshire where Maxwell was captured by the FBI appeared to be linked to Mr Borgerson.
Prince Andrew – who was pictured smiling yesterday as he drove into Windsor Castle
Property records reportedly show that a company named Granite Reality LLC bought Maxwell's 156-acre wooded hideaway on December 13, 2019 from a family trust.
A newspaper report claimed that, according to official documents, the manager of Granite is Boston lawyer, Jeffrey W Roberts, and the company was set up on November 18, 2019, just weeks before its purchase of Maxwell's mountain-top home.
Mr Roberts is also the registered agent for a second company, Hopley Yeaton, whose manager is named as 'Scott Borgerson', the report added.
Both companies also share the same address in Boston – Mr Roberts' law firm. It is not yet clear if it is the same Scott Borgerson who has been linked to Maxwell, but there is only one man by that name listed in Massachusetts, according to public records. Maxwell moved to the US in 1991 after the death of her father, who fell off his yacht in the Canary Islands under mysterious circumstances. Soon after that she met Epstein and dated him for years. Friends have described how the financier's wealth enabled her to live the life of privilege she was accustomed to. In exchange, she opened her contacts book and introduced him to high society in America and the UK including Bill and Hillary Clinton and Prince Andrew – who was pictured smiling yesterday as he drove into Windsor Castle.
After Maxwell broke up with Epstein, she dated tech billionaire Ted Waitt – co-founder of Gateway, Inc. Friends said the 2008 conviction of Epstein for soliciting underage girls for sex and the subsequent bad press for Maxwell took its toll on Mr Waitt. In 2010, they broke up.
On Tuesday Maxwell wiped tears away as she learned her fate at a virtual court hearing in Manhattan. District judge Alison Nathan denied Maxwell's proposal for a £4million bond co-signed by two of her sisters and backed up by more than £3million in property in the UK.
Maxwell's legal team had argued she would be confined to a luxury hotel in the New York area, surrender all travel documents and be subject to GPS monitoring. But Judge Nathan ruled the socialite was a significant flight risk, citing her 'substantial international' ties and 'extraordinary financial resources', setting an anticipated trial date for July 12 next year.
Maxwell is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997 when she was his girlfriend.
Prosecutors argued that, with her connections to powerful people and her fortune of more than £8million, Maxwell had every incentive to try to flee. Lawyers for Maxwell and Mr Borgerson did not respond to requests for comment. Prosecutors in New York would not comment.
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