Jeffrey Epstein gave Ghislaine Maxwell more than $30m, bank records shown in court reveal
Bank accounts show the British socialite purchased a helicopter worth $7.35m in 2007
Jeffrey Epstein gave Ghislaine Maxwell at least $30.7m (£23.7m) during the time they were associated, showed new bank records presented in court.
Transactions from the disgraced financier and his company accounts at JP Morgan bank showed Ms Maxwell had received over $30m between 1999 and 2007 in multiple bank accounts, according to the documents submitted in federal court on Monday during the second week of the high-profile sex trafficking trial involving the British socialite.
Ms Maxwell is facing charges of luring and grooming teenage girls for sexual abuse by Epstein over several years.
The 59-year-old – who was in a relationship with Epstein and allegedly managed his affairs – has pleaded not guilty to all the charges she has been accused of.
Out of the total money wired, the bank records showed a purchase of a helicopter worth $7.35m (£5.5m) by Ms Maxwell in June 2007, prosecutors said in court.
The purchase came three days after $7.4m was sent from Epstein’s account to one named “Air Ghislaine”, the documents revealed.
Ms Maxwell bought the helicopter from a Connecticut-based aviation company Sikorsky Aircraft.
Another transfer by Epstein on 11 August 1999 showed a liquidation of $18.3m (£13.7m) by Financial Trust Company Inc - an account owned by Epstein. The same amount was then transferred to one belonging to Ms Maxwell.
On 18 December 2002, another entry in Epstein’s account showed the sale of shares worth $5m (£3.7m). The amount was then recorded as having been transferred to one of Ms Maxwell’s accounts.
These bank records were presented to court during a testimony from Patrick McHugh, JP Morgan’s executive director of client services.
Epstein and Ms Maxwell’s association in public dates back to 1991 after which she reportedly played many roles in his life.
The two were romantically involved in the early 1990s and Ms Maxwell was known as the “lady of the house” at Epstein’s residence in the decades to follow, according to court testimony given by the convicted paedophile’s house manager. She was arrested in July 2020.
The socialite is the daughter of British publishing giant Robert Maxwell, who died with considerable debt to his name.
So far, at least two individuals have accused her of training them to give Epstein sexual massages and favours when they were teenagers.
One of the women – who is now 44 but met the two when she was 17 – said Ms Maxwell asked her to dress up as a schoolgirl before giving Epstein a sexualised massage. She said Ms Maxwell told her Epstein “needed to have sex about three times a day”.
Epstein – who bragged of several high-end associations including prince Andrew, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton – died by suicide in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York in 2019 while the trial to convict him on similar charges was underway.