By Grace Henry

Published: Monday, 04 April 2022 at 12:00 am


BBC Two is looking into the rise and fall of the late and disgraced media mogul, Robert Maxwell, and his family in a three-part docuseries titled The House of Maxwell.

Beginning with Robert, a newspaper publisher whose criminal business activities were made public after his death in 1991, the doc will explore the media tycoon’s life from being a Holocaust survivor to the creation and collapse of his multi-million pound business.

It will also look at Robert’s relationship with his daughter Ghislaine, who was arrested in July 2020 and charged with the crimes of enticement of minors and sex trafficking of underage girls, in connection with convicted sex offender and financier Jeffery Epstein.

So, where is Ghislaine now?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?

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Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein
ITV

Ghislaine Maxwell is the youngest daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell. She was born in France on Christmas Day 1961, and spent most of her childhood at Maxwell’s Headington Hill mansion, before attending university at Oxford.

During the 1980s, she was an active member of the London social scene, however, she moved to New York following her father’s mysterious death – he drowned in the Canary Islands, while on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine.

Ghislaine was quickly accepted into the elite social circle in New York, and it’s here where she met financier Jeffery Epstein.

According to reports, the pair were a couple in the early 1990s, and Epstein described Ghislaine as his “best friend” in a 2003 profile in Vanity Fair.

Several victims who accused Epstein of grooming, sexual abuse and trafficking also accused Ghislaine Maxwell of helping to groom underage girls for sexual exploitation and abuse, and in 2020, she was arrested in New Hampshire by the FBI.

Where is Ghislaine Maxwell now?

Ghislaine Maxwell is currently incarcerated, and is awaiting sentencing.

On 29th December 2021, Maxwell was found guilty and convicted by a jury in US federal court on five sex trafficking-related counts with a potential custodial sentence of up to 65 years’ imprisonment.

The counts included one of sex trafficking of a minor, which has a maximum of 40 years, and one of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity (10 years).

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts (15 years in total).

She was cleared on the charge of enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

Ghislaine is due to be sentenced on 29th June 2022.

The House of Maxwell starts on BBC Two on Monday 4th April 2022 at 9pm. For more to watch, check out our TV Guide. Also visit our hub for more Documentaries news.

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