Ghislaine Maxwell sues Epstein’s estate for fees
The whereabouts of Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime business associate of Jeffrey Epstein, has been largely a mystery since the registered sex offender was arrested last summer on sex trafficking charges.
But Ms Maxwell has surfaced with a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate, saying the financier, who died last year, had promised to pay her legal fees for any claims from the dozens of women who say she helped him recruit them to give him massages when they were teenagers.
Ms Maxwell brought her suit in Superior Court in the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein’s estate is being probated. The suit was filed on Friday, but not docketed until late on Tuesday.
The lawsuit was a rare public movement by Ms Maxwell, who has kept a low profile since Epstein’s death in August in federal custody.
She remains a central figure in the investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan who are looking into associates of Epstein.
Investigators are trying to determine who may have assisted him in recruiting young girls and women to be sexually abused and who may have moved money to further his efforts.
Ms Maxwell, whose father was the late British media mogul Robert Maxwell, has hired a team of lawyers from New York, Colorado and California to monitor the ongoing criminal investigation and defend her in lawsuits filed by Epstein’s accusers.
In her complaint, Ms Maxwell, 58, alludes to the once intimate relationship she had with Epstein, describing herself as a long-time employee who formed “a legal and special relationship” with him.
But the complaint said Ms Maxwell “had no involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s alleged misconduct.”
The suit says she “has incurred significant legal fees, personal security costs and other expenses” because of her work for a number of Epstein’s businesses from 1999 to 2006.
Among those tasks, the lawsuit said, was managing Epstein’s homes in the Virgin Islands, New York, Paris, Florida and New Mexico. The suit says she also worked for his C O U Q Foundation.
The lawsuit says that before Epstein died, he said he would pay her legal fees in connection with other lawsuits that listed her as a defendant. According to the suit, one of the executors of the estate, Darren Indyke, a long-time lawyer for Epstein, later promised that the estate would make good on that pledge.
Ms Maxwell said those promises have not been honoured. According to the complaint, Ms Maxwell sent the estate a letter in November demanding indemnification for all those costs, citing promises Epstein had made in writing and verbally about supporting her financially.
The lawsuit was filed by Kyle Waldner, a lawyer in the Virgin Islands office of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer. He did not return messages seeking comment. A lawyer for Epstein’s estate did not return messages.