Jeffrey Epstein friend Ghislaine Maxwell faces new charges in sex crimes case

Ghislaine Maxwell is awaiting trial on charges that she recruited underage girls to be sexually abused by the late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors filed two additional counts in a new indictment on Monday in the sex crime case against Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and friend of the late sex criminal and financier Jeffrey Esptein.

The new counts filed in the Southern District of New York accuse Maxwell of sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor.

Prosecutors explained the changes in the superseding indictment in a letter filed later on Monday. The new indictment lengthens the timeline of the alleged conspiracy and adds a fourth victim.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Maxwell, who is awaiting trial on charges that she recruited underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, was arrested in New Hampshire on July 2. She has pleaded not guilty in the case.

“Between approximately in or about 1994 and in or about 2004, Ghislaine Maxwell, the defendant, facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s access to minor victims by, among other things, inducing and enticing, and aiding and abetting the inducement and enticement of, multiple minor victims. Victims were groomed and/or abused at multiple locations,” the court documents say.

“The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,” according to the filings.

In addition to charges related to allegedly recruiting and grooming several underage girls for her ex-boyfriend Epstein in the 1990s, Maxwell also is charged with perjury for allegedly lying during a deposition for a lawsuit filed by an Epstein accuser.

Maxwell is slated to stand trial in July.

Epstein, 66, died in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 from what authorities have ruled was a suicide by hanging.

At the time of his death, Epstein was being held without bail on child sex trafficking charges.

A former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Epstein previously pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida that included paying an underage girl for sexual services.

He served 13 months in jail in that case, but was let out for much of that time on work release.