Ghislaine Maxwell demanded Jeffrey Epstein staff ‘never look master in the eye’
GHISLAINE Maxwell demanded Jeffrey Epstein's house staff "never look the master in the eye", a book about Epstein claims.
The British socialite and former Epstein girlfriend reportedly introduced a strict set of rules sometime after being put in charge of running the late paedophile financier's many properties in 1991.
Maxwell is currently being held in New York over her alleged role in the grooming and abuse of Epstein's underage victims, though denies any wrongdoing.
She was arrested at a remote property in New Hampshire last Thursday, almost a year after Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial for the sex trafficking of minors.
At her home was reportedly found a copy of Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein, a book released in March by lawyer Bradley Edwards, who has represented a number of Epstein's accusers.
Among the book's claims is that Maxwell laid out a set of rules for Epstein's house staff, including that “staff never look the master, Jeffrey Epstein, in the eye.”
Staff were also told to remain in the background when in Epstein's presence, and to only speak when they were spoken to.
Maxwell, a longtime friend of Prince Andrew, reportedly took the rules from a guide handed out to servants at Buckingham Palace.
Former Epstein butler Juan Alessi has said Maxwell distributed copies of the guide to servants and told them it was required reading.
“Ghislaine was deeply controlling and did things Juan did not appreciate,” Edwards told the .
He added that he thought Maxwell's ability to control people made her “a crucial figure to the spider web of [Epstein's] victims".
“She was the groomer, the enabler and the facilitator,” he said.
Asked why he thought Maxwell had a copy of the book, Edwards said: “It’s hard to tell exactly why she wanted to know what it was that I knew about her."
A bail hearing is scheduled for Maxwell at 1pm on Tuesday.
In court filings made yesterday, her lawyers asked the judge to grant her £4million bail, suggesting that she could be held in home confinement while she awaits trial.
The argued that she was not a flight risk, citing as evidence the fact she remained in the United States after Epstein's arrest last July.
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Prosecutors have argued Maxwell poses an "extreme flight risk".
Maxwell's lawyers have insisted she is "not Epstein" and called the case against her "meritless", but multiple Epstein accusers have alleged that she played a central role in the abuse they suffered.
