Ghislaine Maxwell is trusted with monitoring suicidal inmates, her lawyers claim in motion for $28.5m bail package - weeks after she was revealed to be woken up by guards every 15 minutes to check she hadn't killed herself
Ghislaine Maxwell has been entrusted with monitoring other inmates who might be suicidal, her lawyers have claimed in newly unsealed court papers.
The suspect child sex trafficker and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein has reportedly been handed the task at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she’s being held while she awaits trial.
‘She has been made a suicide watch inmate, which is the highest and most trusted responsibility that an inmate can have,’ attorneys Mark Cohen and Jeffrey Pagliuca wrote in a motion requesting her release to home confinement on a $28.5 million bail package, the NY Post reported.
Maxwell’s lawyers have routinely complained about the ‘onerous’ jail conditions the 58-year-old has been subjected while at the facility, including claims that she herself is being woken up by guards with flashlights every 15 minutes to make sure she hasn’t killed herself.
‘It’s the height of irony that Ms. Maxwell is being constantly surveilled as if she were a suicide risk when she, herself, is trusted enough (if she were ever released from isolation) to monitor inmates who are truly at risk of suicide,’ Cohen and Pagliuca wrote.
Suspect child sex trafficker and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, has reportedly been handed the task at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she’s being held while she awaits trial
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn is seen above. Maxwell's lawyer have routinely complained about the 'onerous' conditions she's being confined in
Maxwell’s defense team has accused the detention center of subjecting their client to unreasonable restrictions and conditions over concerns she’ll meet the same ends as Epstein, who was found dead in his cell at Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center in August last year.
Citing her terms of confinement to be 'unbearable', Maxwell's attorneys are arguing that such purported harsh conditions favor her bid for release.
The claims were included as part of bail arguments filed under seal in Manhattan federal court last Tuesday before being publicly released with redactions on Monday.
In the filing, the lawyers said Maxwell and her husband, Scott Borgerson, with whom she has been living for the past four years, were offering a $22.5million personal recognizance bond secured by about $8million in property and $500,000 in cash, to secure her temporary release.
The terms of the release would involve the couple hiring armed guards to protect her 24/7 in her New York City residence before trial. Her lawyers also said she would have electronic monitoring.
They said $22.5million represents all of Maxwell and Borgerson's assets - which were broken down in a chart included in the court papers requesting the staggering bail package that dwarfs other high profile criminals such as Harvey Weinstein.
Borgerson - a 44-year-old tech CEO whose name was redacted in the papers - pleaded for his wife's release in a letter to the court, writing: 'The person described in the criminal charges is not the person we know.
'I have never witnessed anything inappropriate with Ghislaine; quite the contrary, the Ghislaine I know is a wonderful and loving person.'
Maxwell's husband Scott Borgerson plead to the judge for her temporary release in a letter shared as part of the filing
Maxwell is scheduled to face a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s. She has pleaded not guilty
A redacted version of Borgerson's letter is shown above
'The reporting of Ghislaine over the past year has exploded exponentially. From the time of Epstein's arrest and death in custody in the summer of 2019 until Ghislaine's own arrest in July of this year,' Borgerson, a wealthy former chief executive of shipping data company CargoMetrics, added.
He also described the coverage as 'frighteningly intense'.
The letter from Borgerson (pictured) tells how Maxwell was forced to leave her family and drop out of public view, not because she was eluding law enforcement, but because of 'the intense media frenzy and threats following the arrest and death of Jeffrey Epstein'
'There are many examples of violence whose seeds were born in conspiracy theories and the experiences of QAnon, Pizzagate, and the recent Judge Salas attacks are terrifying.'
Last week a representative for Maxwell, Brian Basham, told DailyMail.com that her lawyers wanted to leave Borgerson's name out of the bail arguments to avoid more attention - even though his identity was widely exposed after her arrest in July.
DailyMail.com was the first to report that Borgerson and Maxwell were an item almost a year earlier - after Epstein was arrested last August.
Borgerson, who is 14 years Maxwell's junior, left his wife in 2014 and tried to reconcile before finally divorcing her in December 2015.
The court papers confirmed that Borgerson and Maxwell got married in 2016 - marking the first time that they've publicly acknowledged the union.
The identities of seven other close friends and family members who the lawyers said were willing to pledge about $5million of their own assets toward the bail package were also not revealed.
'Everybody associated with this is suffering from the lynch mob mentality. They are worried, even frightened,' Basham said.
The lawyers also included letters from several friends of Maxwell's in the filing, including one who wrote: 'I observed her grow up and become a lovely, witty, resourceful, scrupulous and trustworthy human being.
'Additionally, a ferocious work ethic and Ghislaine was no exception in deeply absorbing, exhibiting and living these values and training.
'As far as allowing my own young children and or their friends to visit, both before and at any time in the future, the answer is an unequivocal YES.
'I wish further and most critically as it obtains to this bail hearing, to attest to the loving relationship she has with her husband which I have personally witnessed on many different occasions.'
Another friend described knowing Maxwell since their teenage years, writing: 'My parents trusted Ghislaine with me when I was aged 12, 15, and 19, all key points during my adolescence.
'Because of her I have known more of the world and have my imagination ignited and expanded in ways I could not have imagined.'
Maxwell's (pictured with Trump right in 1997) first attempt at bail shortly after her July arrest was rejected. The president said he 'wished her well' in an interview with Axios earlier this year
The lawyers said Maxwell and her husband, with whom she has been living for the past four years, were offering a $22.5million personal recognizance bond secured by about $8million in property and $500,000 in cash. They said $22.5million represents all of Maxwell and her spouse's assets - which were detailed in a chart (pictured) included in the court papers
Two others described themselves as longtime friends of the entire Maxwell family, likening Ghislaine to her late father Robert Maxwell.
'She has her father's charisma and has a genuine warmth,' one wrote. 'I would describe her as a woman of principle, very disciplined with an extraordinary work ethic, instilled by both her parents.'
Robert Maxwell is known as one of Britain's most powerful media magnates and most notorious fraudsters who spent his business career investing in Israel's economy after losing most of his family during the Holocaust and moving to the UK to build a publishing empire.
He died aged 68 in suspicious circumstances after falling off his megayacht in 1991. After his death, he was revealed to have stolen £500million ($623 million) from employee pension funds.
The second friend who said they knew the Maxwell family 'for most of my life' described Ghislaine as 'mature', 'sensitive' and 'quite obviously grounded in good human values'.
'She does not lie,' the friend wrote. 'She is no "chicken" - it would be totally unlike her to run away from the charges leveled against her.
'In fact the idea of not "facing the music" is totally against the values of every single Maxwell, because both their parents always emphasized personal responsibility - specifically to face Bob's temper. These people consider running away their greatest shame.'
Maxwell is scheduled to face a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s. She has pleaded not guilty.
Her first attempt at bail shortly after her July arrest was rejected.
'Ms Maxwell vehemently maintains her innocence and is committed to defending herself,' the lawyers wrote.
'She wants nothing more than to remain in this country to fight the allegations against her, which are based on the uncorroborated testimony of a handful of witnesses about events that took place over 25 years ago.'
Read the bail proposal below:
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