GHISLAINE Maxwell is facing up to 80 years behind bars after US prosecutors accused her of new sex trafficking charges involving a 14-year-old girl. Maxwell will die in prison if a jury in New York finds her guilty when she goes on trial in the summer. The 59-year-old denies any wrongdoing and already faces a […]
GHISLAINE Maxwell is facing up to 80 years behind bars after US prosecutors accused her of new sex trafficking charges involving a 14-year-old girl.
Maxwell will die in prison if a jury in New York finds her guilty when she goes on trial in the summer.
The 59-year-old denies any wrongdoing and already faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 35 years if convicted of six existing charges of sex abuse and perjury which mainly date back to the mid-1990s.
Testimony from Maxwell’s latest accuser threatens to draw Prince Andrew further into the scandal.
The alleged victim claims that Maxwell groomed her in part from a mansion in Manhattan owned by Jeffrey Epstein, the paedophile financier who killed himself in a US jail, and which was used by the prince around the same time.
Last week, US prosecutors served Maxwell with an updated indictment containing two further charges based on the allegations of a fourth victim who has now come forward.
One of those charges — sex trafficking of a minor — carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in its own right.
The other alleged offence, a conspiracy charge, warrants a sentence of up to five years.
Maxwell now faces eight charges after the fourth victim was added.
The new accuser claims she was 14 in 2001 when she was “paid hundreds of dollars” in cash to provide sexual massages to Epstein.
The abuse allegedly continued until 2004.
It comes as Maxwell’s lawyers are reportedly attempting to subpoena the original picture of Prince Andrew with his arm around Jeffrey Epstein’s teen sex slave Virginia Guiffre.
This was reportedly in order for her to testify against Andrew at Maxwell’s criminal trial.
Their attempt was revealed in a court filing from attorneys for Ms Giuffre which also discussed the possibility of her testifying in Maxwell’s summer trial.
It means lurid claims Andrew slept with Ms Giuffre three times, which he denies, could be discussed under oath in court.
He is under pressure to talk to the FBI about his friendship with paedo billionaire Epstein.
Court documents filed by Ms Giuffre’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley reveal Maxwell’s team seeks original copies of various photos, including the Andrew snap.
The infamous pic shows the grinning royal with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist at Maxwell’s London home in 2001.
Ms McCawley raised the possibility of mum-of-three Ms Giuffre, now 37 and living in Australia, giving evidence during the trial along with Epstein victims Maria and Annie Farmer.
Resisting the subpoena bid in her court filing, she says: “There is simply no reason why, if the Farmers and Ms Giuffre ultimately testify and if these items prove to be relevant and admissible, these items cannot be produced for inspection at trial.”
A spokesman for Andrew, 61, declined to comment.
