Ghislaine Maxwell 'selling Belgravia home to raise legal funds'
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Belgravia home where infamous photo of Prince Andrew with his sex accuser Virginia Roberts was taken ‘goes on the market for £2m to raise funds for her legal defence’
- Ghislaine Maxwell is in a New York jail awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges
- She is reportedly selling her London home to top up $7million legal fighting fund
- The Belgravia property said to be scene of photograph of Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre
- Her brother Ian recently said he ‘recognised the setting’ of the photograph
- This week he lobbied for his sister’s release from pre-trial custody over conditions ‘that amount to torture’
Ghislaine Maxwell is selling her London home to raise funds for her legal defence in the US, her spokesman has said.
The British socialite has been in a New York jail since July due to allegations that she and former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein groomed and abused young girls between 1994 and 1997.
Now faced with an expensive court trial, the 59-year-old is said to be selling the home in highly sought-after Belgravia to cover her legal fees.
Brian Basham, Ms Maxwell’s spokesman, told the Daily Telegraph that she had already set aside £5million in funds but hopes the sale would boost this to more than £7million.
Ghislaine Maxwell is selling her London home to raise funds for her legal defence in the US. The Belgravia home is said to be the setting of an infamous photo (pictured) showing her with Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts and Prince Andrew
Ghislaine Maxwell’s mews house in Belgravia, where Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts, aged 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell were pictured
The mews house is claimed to be the setting of an infamous photograph of Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s waist.
Ms Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers, alleges she was taken in 2001 to have sex with the Duke of York when she was 17.
Ms Maxwell’s brother Ian recently said he ‘recognised the setting’ of the photograph, but said he did not know about the pair’s alleged meeting.
‘I don’t know anything about the photograph other than that I’ve seen it’s been published,’ he added when speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today.
The Duke of York has categorically denied he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre, and said in his BBC Newsnight interview that the photo might have been faked.
Compact: The layout of Ghislaine Maxwell’s London mews house, showing the cramped bathroom, and Andrew in the house with Virginia Roberts and Maxwell, The Duke of York has categorically denied he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre, and said in his BBC Newsnight interview that the photo might have been faked
The British socialite (pictured with Jeffrey Epstein in 2005) is currently being held in Merrimack County Jail in Boscawen, New Hampshire, but she is likely to be transferred to New York City this week
Maxwell’s spokesman, Brian Basham, confirmed to the Telegraph the intended sale of the house, the proceeds of which are expected to boost Maxwell’s legal fighting fund from $7 million (£5 million) to more than $10 million (£7.17 million).
Homes in the area have sold for between £2.6 million and £8 million in the past two years, according to property records.
It is believed that an original attempt at a sale ran into difficulty after Ms Maxwell’s bank closed her account.
‘Ghislaine will be sad to see the house sold,’ Mr Basham told the paper.
‘She is devastated by all this. She will have a lot of good memories. She will be terribly sad to sell the house. It was her refuge in London.’
It comes as billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion was sold for a slashed-down price of $51million – with the proceeds going to his victim compensation fund.
Ghislaine Maxwell (a sketch of her video link court appearance last year) faces child sex trafficking charges over allegedly recruiting three teenage girls as young as 14 for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s
Maxwell is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (pictured), and faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted
Earlier this week Ian Maxwell lobbied for his sister’s release from pre-trial custody, claiming she was losing her hair and struggling with her eyesight in conditions that are ‘degrading’ and ‘amount to torture’.
However, US prosecutors have poured cold water on her hopes of securing bail by renouncing her French and UK citizenships – calling it ‘window dressing’ after her two previous applications were denied.
Mr Maxwell said his sister ‘remained resolute’ but was being served ‘brown’ water, ‘inedible’ food and monitored around the clock in ‘grotesque’ conditions in Brooklyn which he said were ‘not the way that a democratic country’ should run its prisons.
A US judge has twice denied bail to Maxwell, saying she ‘plainly poses a risk of flight’, but her brother insisted she would not seek to flee if her third bail application is successful.
Mr Maxwell said his sister had offered in her latest bail application to renounce her French and UK citizenships, which she said was ‘no easy thing’ for her.
Prosecutors have repeatedly urged the court to deny bail, arguing that Maxwell, who also has US citizenship, might flee to Britain or France and evade extradition if she is released.
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