Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell asks for release from jail on $28.5M bond

Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein accused of aiding his alleged sex-trafficking operation, has asked for a $28.5 million bond after a judge rejected her offer of $5 million earlier this year.

“Ms. Maxwell is proposing an expansive set of bail conditions that is more than adequate to address any concern regarding risk of flight and reasonably assure Ms. Maxwell’s presence in court,” attorneys for Maxwell said in a Monday filing, according to Bloomberg News.

Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire in July and offered a $5 million bond and to submit to house arrest. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan rejected the offer, saying Maxwell had wealth and international ties that made her a flight risk. Her birthplace of France does not extradite citizens.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges she was an accomplice to Epstein, who died last year in federal custody. Her attorneys have said their client is at risk of infection from the coronavirus in jail. Her unidentified spouse, who her attorneys said is an American citizen, has co-signed a personal bond of $22.5 million for her.

The filing claims Maxwell has been married since 2016 and that the couple have not been in hiding but rather attempting to evade the “media frenzy” prompted by Epstein’s arrest and death, according to ABC News.

“I have never witnessed anything close to inappropriate with Ghislaine; quite to the contrary, the Ghislaine I know is a wonderful and loving person,” Maxwell’s husband wrote in a letter that accompanied the filing.

Before her arrest, Maxwell was named in numerous civil lawsuits as responsible for procuring underage girls that Epstein was accused of sexually abusing and trafficking.

The six-count criminal indictment specifically charges her in connection with three unidentified minors Epstein allegedly abused in the mid-1990s, and alleges she was “present for and involved” in the abuse. She has denied the allegations.