Former Jeffrey Epstein collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested in the United States, an FBI spokesperson confirmed on Thursday July 2. The Manhattan federal prosecutor's office in charge of the Epstein case has announced a press conference at noon (4 p.m. GMT) to present the charges against the daughter of ex-British magnate Robert Maxwell.

The arrest in New Hampshire of Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, who holds several passports, is a major development in this resounding scandal.

Accused of multiple sexual assaults on minors, Jeffrey Epstein was a figure in the international jet set, whose address book included many celebrities in Europe and the United States, including Prince Andrew or the former American president Bill Clinton, before being arrested and then found dead in prison in New York, in August 2019.

Accused of having played a role in "the sexual abuse of minors" by Jeffrey Epstein

The indictment against Ghislaine Maxwell, made public, contains six charges, including a conspiracy to induce minors to move in order to engage in illegal and perjury sexual acts.

The former collaborator of the New York financier is formally accused of having played a role "in the exploitation and sexual abuse of minors by Jeffrey Epstein". The 58-year-old daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell, who died in 1991, has been charged in several complaints with bringing girls to the luxurious Epstein apartment in Manhattan.

Former partner of the American financier whom she met in the early 1990s in New York, Ghislaine Maxwell had remained a close associate. In a 2003 article in Vanity Fair, Jeffrey Epstein presented her as his "best friend".

After the death of the New York financier, the American Minister of Justice had promised to continue the investigation and to track down his possible accomplices. Ghislaine Maxwell was at the top of the list.

With AFP and Reuters

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