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Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to new sex trafficking charges

Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to new sex trafficking charges
prosecutors obtained what's called a superseding indictment. It's really a rewritten indictment to add two charges. One is a sex trafficking charge, another one is a conspiracy, you know, sex trafficking charge. And both of these charges are added because previously the indictment only addressed What happened to three young girls between 1994 1997. And now, prosecutors have brought in 1/4 woman who was 14 at the time when she said in 2001, she was groomed by Glenn Maxwell two provide basically sexualized massages to Jeffrey Epstein in florida. And this increases the scope of the indictment now from 1994 to 2004, a 10 year stretch, and it beefs up the charges. It raises the possibility that if the lane Maxwell was convicted, she could go to prison really for the rest of her life in this case. The real fear of prosecutors is that she would flee. She, her attorneys have offered a bail package of $28 $5 million dollars and said that she will submit to having armed guards with her to make sure she doesn't fully. And they've also said she'll give up passports to the United Kingdom and France a country that prosecutors say they would not be able to extradite her from As long as she could be free until trial. But so far, the Judge three times has said no. The judges said she doesn't trust the lane Maxwell and believes that she has the means to flee if she wanted to.
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Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to new sex trafficking charges
Ghislaine Maxwell faced a judge in person for the first time Friday as lawyers squabbled over exactly when she should be tried on sex trafficking charges alleging that she procured teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse at his posh residences.Maxwell, a British socialite and one-time girlfriend of Epstein, pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking conspiracy and an additional sex trafficking charge that were added in a rewritten indictment released last month by a Manhattan federal court grand jury. The new indictment stretched the timespan of the charges from three years to a decade.Her lawyers maintain they need months of additional preparation because of the new charges, making it impossible to keep a July 12 trial date. Prosecutors have said the new charges should not require substantial additional work because they add a single victim to the three victims already described in the indictment.The judge didn't make an immediate decision on a possible new date for the trial, but told lawyers she wants to avoid a long delay.Maxwell, 59, has been in custody at a federal lockup in Brooklyn since her arrest last July at a $1 million New Hampshire estate where her lawyers say she went to live to avoid the spotlight of media attention and to remain safe from threats. Prosecutors, though, say she took steps to hide her whereabouts and movements.Maxwell has failed three times to be granted bail despite offering a $28.5 million package and agreeing to live with electronic monitoring and armed guards who would ensure she does not leave a New York City residence. The U.S. citizen also has offered to give up citizenship in the United Kingdom and France. A bail appeal hearing is scheduled next week before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.In court documents, prosecutors say Maxwell recruited at least three teenage girls, including a 14-year-old, between 1994 and 1997 for Epstein to sexually abuse. The superseding indictment says another teenage girl was recruited in the early 2000s when she was 14. The indictment alleges Maxwell sometimes joined the abuse.A lawyer for Maxwell requested the in-person arraignment Friday, citing "media coverage" and a "debacle" that occurred during a remote hearing in a related civil case before another judge when members of the public clogged up a line provided by the court for people outside the courthouse to listen to the proceeding.Epstein took his own life at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial.

Ghislaine Maxwell faced a judge in person for the first time Friday as lawyers squabbled over exactly when she should be tried on sex trafficking charges alleging that she procured teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse at his posh residences.

Maxwell, a British socialite and one-time girlfriend of Epstein, pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking conspiracy and an additional sex trafficking charge that were added in a rewritten indictment released last month by a Manhattan federal court grand jury. The new indictment stretched the timespan of the charges from three years to a decade.

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Her lawyers maintain they need months of additional preparation because of the new charges, making it impossible to keep a July 12 trial date. Prosecutors have said the new charges should not require substantial additional work because they add a single victim to the three victims already described in the indictment.

The judge didn't make an immediate decision on a possible new date for the trial, but told lawyers she wants to avoid a long delay.

Maxwell, 59, has been in custody at a federal lockup in Brooklyn since her arrest last July at a $1 million New Hampshire estate where her lawyers say she went to live to avoid the spotlight of media attention and to remain safe from threats. Prosecutors, though, say she took steps to hide her whereabouts and movements.

Maxwell has failed three times to be granted bail despite offering a $28.5 million package and agreeing to live with electronic monitoring and armed guards who would ensure she does not leave a New York City residence. The U.S. citizen also has offered to give up citizenship in the United Kingdom and France. A bail appeal hearing is scheduled next week before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In court documents, prosecutors say Maxwell recruited at least three teenage girls, including a 14-year-old, between 1994 and 1997 for Epstein to sexually abuse. The superseding indictment says another teenage girl was recruited in the early 2000s when she was 14. The indictment alleges Maxwell sometimes joined the abuse.

A lawyer for Maxwell requested the in-person arraignment Friday, citing "media coverage" and a "debacle" that occurred during a remote hearing in a related civil case before another judge when members of the public clogged up a line provided by the court for people outside the courthouse to listen to the proceeding.

Epstein took his own life at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial.