A US judge has denied bail to Ghislaine Maxwell, citing the risk the British socialite might flee from charges she assisted in the late financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking of girls.
US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan said federal prosecutors persuaded her that Ms Maxwell "poses a flight risk" despite her proposed $28.5 million bail package, and should remain jailed because "no conditions of release" reasonably assured she would appear in court.
Lawyers for Ms Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan declined to comment.
Ms Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom girls as young as 14 years old for sex in the mid-1990s, and not guilty to perjury for denying her involvement under oath.
She has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn following her 2 July arrest at her New Hampshire home, where prosecutors said she was hiding out.
The proposed bail package included $22.5m posted by Ms Maxwell and her husband, as well as home confinement with electronic monitoring and 24-hour guard to ensure Ms Maxwell remained safe and would not escape.
Ms Maxwell said she wanted to stay in New York to clear her name, while her lawyers objected to jail conditions including invasive searches and surveillance by flashlight-toting guards who woke her every 15 minutes to ensure she was still breathing.
But Judge Nathan, who rejected a $5m bail package for Ms Maxwell in July, said none of the new arguments had a "material bearing" on whether Maxwell was a flight risk.
In opposing bail, prosecutors cited Ms Maxwell's abilities to hide her wealth and evade capture, and the prospect she might flee to France or the United Kingdom, where she holds citizenships and they said she might elude extradition.
Ms Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Her trial is scheduled for 12 July 2021.
Epstein, 66, was found dead in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Former US Attorney General William Barr criticised an error by jail personnel that he said contributed to Epstein's death.
Judge Nathan described her "bottom line" conclusions in a two-page order. A longer opinion explaining her reasoning will be filed after lawyers for Ms Maxwell and the government propose redactions to account for potentially confidential information.
