Ghislaine Maxwell Arrest: How Jeffrey Epstein’s Confidante Dodged Year-Long Manhunt

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged confidante, was arrested on Thursday (July 2) for her alleged involvement in the late financier’s sex trafficking and sexual abuse case. This comes almost a year after a manhunt was launched to capture the British socialite.

Federal prosecutors have now revealed how Maxwell, who has been accused of aiding Epstein in grooming girls as young as 14 for his sexual obsessions, has managed to evade arrest since July last year when charges against the convicted sex offender were made public. As per the federal indictment obtained by E! News, the 58-year-old allegedly had figured out many strategies to avoid being captured by authorities.

She allegedly hid in two different locations, one of which was the posh Bedford, New Hampshire estate where she was arrested Thursday.

Prosecutors claimed Maxwell transferred to different hideouts at least twice over the past year. Epstein’s alleged associate also changed her phone number and email address and put in a different name when she had things delivered to her location.

Prosecutors also revealed that Maxwell had been living in a property that was bought for $1 million in December last year by an anonymous limited liability corporation. The house was sitting on a 56-acre estate in New Hampshire.

The LLC was allegedly only created after the homeowner’s real estate agent had qualms about selling the property to an anonymous person.

The unnamed agent who sold the property told CNBC that she thought the buyer was an actress. “Never met her, never saw her,” the agent said.

It was reportedly the massive sum Epstein had given Maxwell in the years before he allegedly took his life that made the socialite's evasion strategies work for almost a year. Prosecutors claimed that from 2007 to 2011, the disgraced financier sent more than $20 million to some of her 15 bank accounts.

"The seriousness of the allegations, the strength of the evidence, and the possibility of lengthy incarceration—creates an extraordinary incentive to flee," the prosecutors added.

Maxwell was charged with six counts, including perjury, transportation of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

Epstein was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and another count for sex trafficking. He pleaded not guilty and was denied bail in July last year. Just a month later, Epstein died shortly after being found unconscious in his Manhattan jail cell.