'The Ghislaine I know is a wonderful, loving person': Maxwell's tech CEO husband makes impassioned plea for her to be released from jail by offering $28.5MILLION bail package including armed guards that will follow her 24/7 and $8M in property
Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers have asked a judge to free her from jail under an astonishing $28.5million bail package that would include armed guards to protect her 24/7 in her New York City residence as she awaits trial.
The bail arguments on behalf of Maxwell, who is accused of helping recruit young girls into Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sex trafficking ring, were filed under seal in Manhattan federal court last Tuesday before being released publicly with redactions late Monday.
The lawyers said Maxwell, 58, 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.
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.'
Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are urging a judge to free her from jail under a $28.5million bail package that would include armed guards to protect her 24/7 in her New York City residence as she awaits trial
Maxwell's husband Scott Borgerson (pictured) submitted a letter to the court pleading for her release, 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'
A redacted version of Borgerson's letter is shown above
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
'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'.
'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.
Maxwell appears to be equally concerned about her safety as her bail request includes armed security guards to keep an eye on her day and night.
Her lawyers also said she would have electronic monitoring should the judge agree to release her from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Maxwell is scheduled to face a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s.
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.'
Maxwell is accused of helping procure young girls for Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sex trafficking ring. She and Epstein are pictured together in New York City in 1995
To support the bail request, the lawyers included a letter from Maxwell's spouse.
They said the letter 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'.
Epstein killed himself in a federal Manhattan lockup in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
The lawyers also included letters from several friends of Maxwell's, including one who wrote: 'I observed her grow up and become a lovely, witty, resourceful, scrupulous and trustworthy human being.
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'
'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.'
Two others described themselves as longtime friends of the entire Maxwell family, with 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.'
A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment when approached by the Associated Press.
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