Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, may have to pay nearly $20 million (£15.6million) in compensation to the late financier's victims, the Daily Express reported on Sunday.
Maxwell's money was reportedly traced by the FBI to 15 bank accounts which were under her name along with others that could be aliases. Her accounts were frozen following her arrest. "The FBI is examining her finances, along with all the other evidence seized, in minute detail," a source told the Daily Express.
Maxwell was arrested from a remote mansion in New Hampshire by the FBI on July 2 on charges related to soliciting underage girls for Epstein, trafficking them nationally and internationally for sex and perjury. She reportedly paid $1 million in cash to stay at the mansion. She is currently locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
"Federal prosecutors can make every last penny the subject of a forfeiture order if she is found guilty at her trial next year and it can be established she was paid all her money by Epstein," the source reportedly said. "Many, like me, are hoping the whole lot is eventually allocated to the compensation fund that has been set up for Epstein's many, many victims - most of whom are unlikely to see money from civil actions anytime soon."
The 58-year-old socialite pleaded not guilty to the charges and she was denied bail by a New York federal judge due to flight risk. If convicted she could be jailed for 35 years.
Epstein, the 66-year-old convicted pedophile, was found dead last August at a federal jail in Manhattan after being denied bail. He is reported to have run a pyramid scheme of sex trafficking. One of his victims also alleged that Britain's Prince Andrew – younger brother of Prince Charles – also sexually abused her. The Buckingham Palace and Andrew denied the allegations.
