US prosecutors have expanded their criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell by adding two new trafficking charges against her.
Federal prosecutors had already accused Maxwell of recruiting three underage girls for Epstein during the mid-1990s.
However, the addition of a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell from 2001 to 2004 not only lengthens the amount of time on her potential sentence, it also widens the scope of how long this activity allegedly occurred.
She had previously pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom three teenage girls for sex between 1994 and 1997 in New York.
Ms Maxwell has been held in a jail in Brooklyn since her arrest last July.
In February, Maxwell’s attorney Bobbi Sternheim claimed her client has been under constant surveillance, including four to five searches per day. Sternheim alleges Maxwell has been recorded by correctional officers with a hand-held camera every time she is moved, and was once subjected to a pat-down search where the guard refused to film it being done.
According to the amended indictment, Ms Maxwell and Epstein recruited the fourth victim to engage in sex acts with Epstein at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, and successfully encouraged her to recruit other girls to do the same.
The indictment said Epstein’s employees, including Ms Maxwell, also sent gifts such as lingerie to the girl’s Florida home from New York.
It is unclear whether the new charges could lead to a postponement of Ms Maxwell’s scheduled July 12 trial in Manhattan, though prosecutors said Ms Maxwell should have “ample time” to prepare.
In a letter to the judge, prosecutors said they have given Ms Maxwell’s lawyers the month and year when the fourth victim was born and key evidence about her.
They also said they plan to turn over large amounts of other evidence, including statements from more than 250 witnesses related to their investigation of Epstein and his associates.
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His estate was used to create a fund expected to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution to victims of his sexual abuses.
The fund has received more than 175 claims.
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