Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell employed ex-British military personnel to hide from FBI

Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite charged with aiding the late Jeffrey Epstein in the sex trafficking of minors, employed former British military personnel as security at the New Hampshire estate where she was arrested earlier this month, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Monday.

The office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said Maxwell, in addition to the security detail, wrapped her cellphone in aluminum foil to avoid detection. FBI agents had to break down the door of the facility and found her hiding inside a room in its interior, prosecutors said, according to The Washington Post.

The FBI added that Maxwell sent the security personnel out to make “purchases for the property” with a credit card, and that the guards worked in rotating shifts.

The U.S. attorney’s office has argued Maxwell is a flight risk, citing her citizenship in three countries, including her birthplace of France, which does not extradite citizens.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe cited these precautions as further evidence Maxwell, who has denied the charges, is a flight risk. “As these facts make plain, there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding,” Moe wrote, according to the Post.

Since Maxwell’s indictment, Moe wrote, investigators “have been in touch with additional individuals who have expressed a willingness to provide information regarding the defendant,” who have given the U.S. attorney’s office further information that “has the potential to make the Government’s case even stronger,” according to the newspaper.

Federal prosecutors have charged Maxwell on six counts, including sex trafficking, perjury and enticement of minors. She is due to appear in court Tuesday.

Maxwell’s lawyers have claimed she was estranged from Epstein at the time of his death and that her precautions were against the media rather than law enforcement.