An inside look at the life of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's alleged co-conspirator. Originally aired: 06/25/21 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the shocking allegations against Ghislaine Maxwell?
Robert Maxwell was born into a Hasidic family in Czechoslovakia. His name was Jan Ludwig Haack, and he fought in battles across Europe.
was one of nine children himself that was so poor that they had to share shoes. They all slept in the same room.
And a good portion of his family was murdered in the Holocaust.
By the time he was 23, he'd changed his name four times. He fixed on Robert Maxwell because it sounded faintly Scottish, which he quite liked.
Five minutes to midnight before the offer went out to withdraw... You know how Americans love that British accent?
He had a really nice upper-crush British accent, which is funny because he's from Czechoslovakia.
There's no problem about it. He picks up from a very, very well-educated British Army officer during the war the accent he ends up with. And so he sounds incredibly posh.
Robert Maxwell lived in a 50-room mansion, Headington Hall.
A BBC documentary called Robert Maxwell Downfall showed what it was like inside the mansion.
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Chapter 2: How did Ghislaine Maxwell become involved with Jeffrey Epstein?
She was pretty much on her own. She had a few friends. Were you worried about your sister at this time? I mean, Ghislaine's very resilient as a personality.
She said rather presciently, as it turned out, you haven't heard the last of the Maxwells.
So it's about a year after her father's death when a tabloid reporter and photographer apparently spotted her. Ghislaine is pictured in an airport, but a story that accompanied the photos notes that she was not by herself.
The newspaper wrote, it is to this man that 30-year-old Ghislaine has turned to ease the heartache of her father's shame. His name is Jeffrey Epstein.
I don't think she could have found a greater facsimile to her father than Jeffrey Epstein. He came from nothing. He talked his way into position after position.
What was understood about Jeffrey at that time was that he was a former high school math teacher who had some sort of genius equation for solving the market and built himself up from like nowhere in Brooklyn.
Epstein worked his way into a job on Wall Street at Bear Stearns, and then somehow he connects with Leslie Wexner.
Leslie Wexner is a billionaire. He's the founder of The Limited Company. They own Victoria's Secret.
He and Wexner apparently hit it off, and Epstein begins to tell people that he's a money manager for billionaires only. But at the time, the only publicly known client was Leslie Wexner.
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Chapter 3: What role did Ghislaine Maxwell play in Epstein's crimes?
I arrived at the airport, and there was a man with a little sign that had my name on it. It was the first time I'd ever experienced something like that.
Annie gets there, there aren't all of these other kids. There is no school program. It's just Jeffrey, Ghislaine, and now 16-year-old Annie Farmer.
This is a picture I took of Annie. I got her ready for prom. So she's 16 here.
When I look back at those photos now of myself at the time, I feel like I was a baby.
And Jeffrey was calling. When she was getting ready for prom, he was calling to talk to her.
Annie Farmer is one of the underage victims at the center of the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty. ABC News first spoke to Annie Farmer in 2019 about her experiences with Maxwell and Epstein and about what she says happened to her at his ranch in New Mexico. Can you just sort of describe the New Mexico property?
The ranch was not in Santa Fe, you know, it was really in the middle of nowhere. I think it might have actually been a temporary residence that they had while the main property was being developed.
Upon arrival, your expectation was this was some kind of group thing for students, right?
Right.
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Chapter 4: What do the victims say about Ghislaine Maxwell?
Andy describes in court filings what she says happened next. She says Maxwell repeatedly insisted on giving her a massage.
I laid on the table and I was very aware that the door was open and I could be seen getting a massage. And then at some point she just takes the sheet down. So she exposed my breasts and I feel uncomfortable. I feel like Epstein can probably see me right now. And she touches me around my chest, but blurring the boundaries of normal or not normal. This was such a scary situation for me.
So I just needed to, like, just to manage that and to go on as if everything was normal.
She is isolated on this ranch in New Mexico. She has no way to communicate with anyone. She's alone there with two adults she does not know. She's only 16 years old.
I was sleeping in a small room. I was in my pajamas under the covers, and Epstein just sort of bounded in and said, oh, I'd like to cuddle. Of course, he wasn't waiting for me to agree to that. He got into bed with me then. This was one of those boundary violations that was so clear. But knowing she's there, it makes me confused. Well, if they're partners, why? That doesn't make sense.
Annie says that Epstein physically restrained her and started pressing up against her. And she says she was frozen in fear.
I do remember getting out of bed and getting into the bathroom and shutting the door. I didn't want to admit what was going on was going on.
My sister never shared with me anything about what had happened with Ghislaine and Jeffrey. I didn't understand until much later. They thought it was okay to touch a 16-year-old, the person that I loved more than anyone in the world, and there is nothing okay about that.
In 2019, Annie Farmer filed a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's estate and Ghislaine Maxwell. She eventually accepted an offer from the Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund, which required her to drop the lawsuit.
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Chapter 5: How did Ghislaine's upbringing influence her life choices?
They come up with the same pattern that they go to his house, they go to the kitchen, and then they're led upstairs to his bedroom. And then he comes in in a towel. They rub his back or his feet for a little bit, and then eventually he turns over nude and then proceeds to lure and sexually assault them.
They were all telling us that they had either been recruited by an older female to them, meaning someone over 18, somebody in their 20s, or by someone who had already been a victim.
It was a whole network working together to solicit and bring these girls into his home.
Ghislaine Maxwell says that at the time of the police investigation in Palm Beach, she was very rarely in Florida.
Ghislaine said that her role in his life was greatly reduced compared to what it was.
Investigators certainly knew that Ghislaine Maxwell was associated with him. There were phone messages. She would call him, leave messages for him. But investigators never developed any information at that point that she was involved in this.
A South Florida billionaire has been arrested on prostitution charges.
53-year-old Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in Palm Beach where investigators say he paid women to have sex with him in his mansion.
Epstein was charged by a grand jury with one count of solicitation of a prostitute. No mention of underage victims or minors.
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Chapter 6: What was Ghislaine Maxwell's relationship with her father?
Buckingham Palace issued a statement on Prince Andrew's behalf saying it is emphatically denied the prince had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Geoffrey.
people really started to put the microscope on Ghislaine.
I'll ask you about all the allegations that have come out, Ghislaine.
Happy New Year.
Obviously, they're very damning, involving British royalty. Have you got no comment at all?
I've made a statement. Thank you.
Ghislaine Maxwell, through an agent, releases a statement that says Virginia's allegations are not true, that they are obvious lies. Do you know Virginia?
Can you at least say if she's been in your house? Okay, you're obviously not gonna speak, so have a good day.
I'm wishing you a happy new year, thank you.
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