EXCLUSIVE Ghislaine Maxwell 'was tortured in prison - now she's ready for a comeback': Jeffrey Epstein's socialite pimp runs half marathons at low-security Florida lock-up and is now 'focused and motivated' for her appeal next week, her brother reveals
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13173137/Appeal-Ghislaine-Maxwell-brother-Ian-strong-resilient-sister-tortured-comeback-pimp-socialite-motivated-focused-Florida.html
The last time Ian Maxwell saw his sister, Ghislaine, was a month ago and she was looking ‘really good’, he says. ‘She looked and sounded absolutely like the sister I know – her hair is dark and glossy, her complexion is good and she’s keeping fit.’ This new-found vigour and ebullience is partly down to regular Pilates and yoga sessions, alongside a regimented, long distance running schedule.
Her most recent race was a gruelling, half-marathon (13.1 miles), an impressive feat for anyone, but all the more so for a 62-year-old woman – especially one who’s spent the last three and a half years in jail. The race took place recently at Tallahassee low security prison, in Florida, where Ghislaine is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with her ex-boyfriend, the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls.
She competed alongside 19 other inmates – ‘white collar’ criminals, fraudsters and those serving time for drug offences – running multiple laps of the prison yard. It was an event organised by prison staff to make the environment ‘more liveable’ for detainees, and while it’s not known where she ranked at the finishing line, Ghislaine is unlikely to have been lagging at the back.
>Maxwell, front, poses with her siblings Anne, left, Kevin, Isabel, Christine, Philip and Ian in a photo issued by the family
For Ghislaine is, everyone who’s been in contact with her for the past few months agrees, feeling cautiously optimistic and totally focused on her appeal at the US Court of Appeal in New York on Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with the Mail, Ian, a 68-year-old British businessman, and one of Ghislaine’s six surviving siblings, all of them children of the notorious media magnate Robert Maxwell and his French-born academic wife Elisabeth, describes how he talks with his sister as often as possible via video link. He disputes reports that her incarceration has left her bitter, beaten and withdrawn. Nothing could be further from the truth, he says. Her spirit, he insists, is ‘undimmed’
‘She’s strong and resilient and I hope her appeal will succeed because I think she still has much to offer and much to do and I hope she will be given that opportunity,’ he says. It’s a ringing endorsement by a loving and loyal brother ahead of Ghislaine’s bid to clear her name and secure her freedom.
However, it’s unlikely to cut much ice with the dozens of girls and young women who were victims of the sex trafficking ring orchestrated by her and the billionaire businessman Epstein. As we all know, the sordid enterprise led to Epstein’s mysterious ‘suicide’ in prison in 2019, Ghislaine’s arrest the following year, and their associate and friend, Prince Andrew’s, disgrace and withdrawal from royal public life.
Few will ever forget the infamous photograph of Prince Andrew taken in 2001, his arm around the waist of accuser Virginia Guiffre, and with a smiling Ghislaine in the background. Virginia went on to accuse Epstein and Ghislaine of trafficking her, aged 16, under the guise of hiring her as a massage therapist, and later being paid to have sex with the royal – something he has always vehemently denied.
The appeal is certainly another landmark event in the extraordinary case of a woman who was once feted in society circles worldwide, but whose downfall was meeting, and falling for, the sinister and captivating Jeffrey Epstein. ‘It is not an edifying story,’ agrees her brother. ‘Epstein was not a pleasant man and Ghislaine is on record as saying the greatest regret of her life is that she ever met him or went with him. But it’s in the past and we’ve got to concentrate on the future.’
The thrust of Ghislaine’s appeal centres on two main issues, according to her high-powered lawyer Arthur Aidala, who is also representing Harvey Weinstein in his appeal to overturn his rape conviction. Firstly, there was a plea deal agreed with Epstein back in 2008, when he first faced charges of procuring underage girls for prostitution, which should have prevented anyone else facing court for his crimes. Secondly, a problem with a juror has come to light which her defence team argues should render her conviction unsafe.