Ghislaine Maxwell was spotted soaking up the sun as she tucked into a burger and fries this week in Los Angeles just days after the shock death of her ex-boyfriend and longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein.
The 57-year-old British socialite was photographed sitting outside an In-N-Out fast food restaurant on Wednesday.
It is the first time she has been spotted out in the wake of Epstein’s suicide in his New York jail cell last weekend where he was awaiting trial for child sex trafficking.
Maxwell, who has been accused by some of Epstein’s alleged victims of recruiting and facilitating the abuse of young girls, has not been pictured in public since 2016.
Ghislaine Maxwell was photographed sitting outside an In-N-Out fast food restaurant in Los Angeles on Wednesday
She was reportedly sitting alone at the In-N-Out restaurant with her dog when someone recognized her.
The fellow diner approached and asked: ‘Are you who I think you are?’
‘Yes, I am,’ Maxwell responded, before saying: ‘Well, I guess this is the last time I’ll be eating here!’
Photos of Maxwell, first published by the New York Post, show the socialite sitting casually outside the eatery reading a book entitled ‘The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives’.
Maxwell, who stared directly into the camera as the photos were taken, was dressed in metallic sneakers, striped pants and a grey sweatshirt.
She was pictured with and without her reading glasses.
In one of the photos, two drinks and two trays of food are visible on her table.
Her dog can also be seen lying patiently on the ground beneath her seat.
Maxwell’s rare sighting in Los Angeles came on the same day a woman filed a lawsuit against her in New York alleging that she helped arrange for Epstein to rape her when she was 15.
The 57-year-old British socialite was spotted reading a book while her dog sat on the ground below her seat
It is the first time she has been spotted out in the wake of Epstein’s suicide in his New York jail cell last weekend where he was awaiting trial for child sex trafficking
Maxwell, who stared directly into the camera as the photos were taken, was dressed spotted wearing metallic sneakers, striped pants and a grey sweatshirt
Jennifer Araoz is suing Maxwell, Epstein’s estate and three female members of his household staff.
The lawsuit accuses Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit teenage girls and providing ‘organizational support to Epstein’s sex trafficking ring’.
Maxwell, who is the socialite daughter of the late British publishing baron Robert Maxwell, has previously denied wrongdoing, saying any allegations she was involved in arranging sex for Epstein were ‘abhorrent and entirely untrue’.
Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether any Epstein associates will face charges.
Maxwell is thought to have met Epstein some time in the early 1990s and was linked to him romantically in 1992. The pair dated briefly and she was known to be part of his inner circle for decades.
In her lawsuit, Araoz said she was a 14-year-old freshman at a performing arts high school near Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2001 when she was approached on the sidewalk by an unidentified woman in her 20s who invited her to meet the financier.
She said Epstein began by giving her gifts and encouragement during her visits, then started asking for massages, groping her and having her take her clothes off.
Araoz said she stopped seeing Epstein in 2002 after he raped her at his townhouse when she was 15.
Her lawyers said the young woman had no personal contact with Maxwell but is suing her because she had been described in other court cases as having helped Epstein recruit underage girls for sex.
Maxwell is thought to have met Epstein some time in the early 1990s and was linked to him romantically in 1992. The pair dated briefly and she was known to be part of his inner circle for decades. They are pictured together in New York in 2005
Separately, photos have emerged of a 1999 photo shoot featuring a then-37-year-old Maxwell wearing a stars and stripes bikini and Christian Dior trench coat
Maxwell started distancing herself from Epstein when claims he abused underage girls first started to surface publicly in the mid-2000s.
She has been lying low in recent months and was holed up for some time in a $3 million New England mansion owned by 43-year-old tech CEO Scott Borgerson.
A source told DailyMail.com that the pair are currently in a relationship. Borgerson has since denied they are romantically linked but would not comment on the status of their friendship
‘She’s become a real homebody, rarely ventures out. She’s the antithesis of the woman who traveled extensively and partied constantly with Epstein,’ a source familiar with Maxwell’s new life exclusively told DailyMail.com.
Another source close to Borgerson’s family claimed that he left wife Rebecca and their two young children for Maxwell five years ago.
Borgerson is believed to have met Maxwell through speaking engagements connected to ocean preservation, a subject on which they share a passion. They were pictured speaking at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik in 2014.
Separately, photos have emerged of a 1999 photo shoot featuring a then-37-year-old Maxwell wearing a stars and stripes bikini and Christian Dior trench coat.
The pictures were taken around the time that Maxwell was allegedly recruiting underage girls for Epstein
One assistant said that she was ‘flirting with the camera’ and invited the photographer to take suggestive pictures of her while she was getting ready
The pictures were taken around the time that Maxwell was allegedly recruiting underage girls for Epstein.
She can be seen standing straight on to the camera in a shoot that left assistants taken aback by her ‘intensely sexual vibe’.
One assistant said that she was ‘flirting with the camera’ and invited the photographer to take suggestive pictures of her while she was getting ready.
They were shot for a publication to promote Sotheby’s vintage fashion collection and featured dozens of New York society and party girls.
One source said that Maxwell brought along the Stars and Stripes bikini herself and suggested wearing it.
During the shoot, Maxwell was said to have hinted at her alleged double life, telling those present how she ‘put dildos at each place setting’ at a dinner party she hosted for young girls.
She is also said to have laughed describing how one couple at the dinner ‘demonstrated how to do the perfect fellatio on a man for all at the table.’
She has been lying low in recent months and was holed up for some time in a $3 million New England mansion owned by 43-year-old tech CEO Scott Borgerson
Borgerson, 43, was said to be dating Maxwell but has since denied the pair are romantically involved, though would not comment on the status of their friendship