British socialite appeared in person for the first time since her arrest in July after being granted rare permission by the judge
It was the day Ghislaine Maxwell had spent nine months and 13 days waiting for – the chance to plead her innocence in front of a packed New York courtroom.
An arraignment is usually a procedural affair, particularly in the time of Covid where defendants mostly opt to appear via videolink, but Ms Maxwell was determined to have her moment before the judge.
The British socialite on Friday appeared in person for the first time since her arrest in July after being granted rare permission by Judge Alison Nathan.
She pleaded not guilty to the two new sex trafficking charges against her, speaking in her clipped British accent only to confirm she understood the charges and was waiving her right to have them read publicly.
The 59-year-old had already pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting and grooming teenage girls from 1994-1997 to provide sexual massages to her one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.
Ms Maxwellâs lawyers have been claiming in various appeals for bail that she has lost weight and that her hair has been falling out as a result of the âKafkaesqueâ prison conditions in a Brooklyn federal prison.
She did appear frailer than her last virtual appearance in July.
Dressed only in a thin baby blue t-shirt and black tracksuit bottoms with her feet in shackles, she crossed her arms tightly as if to warm her much smaller frame.
As she listened to the judge she ran her hands through a lank, greying mop of hair that has now grown to shoulder length – no longer the trademark pixie cut she has become known for.
Ms â’s sister Isabel, who resides in the US, was in court for the hearing. Dressed in a black beret, glasses and a face mask, she tried to shield herself from photographers.
At one point Ms Maxwell turned to wave at her in the public gallery.
Her court appearance was the first time she has been seen by a member of her family since she was arrested in a dawn raid on the home she shared with her husband Scott Borgerson in New Hampshire in July
Mr Borgerson, 44, an American entrepreneur, was nowhere to be seen on Friday, however. Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, declined to say why he had not shown up in support.
Little has been seen of Mr Borgerson since he stepped down from his tech company CargoMetrics to avoid being a âdistractionâ.
The defendant’s brother, Ian Maxwell, who after months of silence last month launched a PR campaign to have his sister freed from custody, was unable to travel from the UK due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Due to the coronavirus most hearings in the Southern District of New York are taking place via Zoom or through a dial-in phone line.
Isn’t it interesting how this went on for DECADES completely unhindered even with the cooperation of the top government officials of various countries and major corporations? Her and Epstein obviously got too big for their britches and offended the wrong people somewhere somehow that got all this exposure started. My crystal ball says this whole operation has been replaced by another one and has been set up more securely and there are probably more of them world wide anyway as evidenced by the scores of children that have gone missing every year!