Ghislaine Maxwell’s friends have said they fear for her safety in jail, with one warning: ‘There is too much power involved if she really talks.’
Maxwell, 58, was arrested on Thursday in New Hampshire and faces six counts relating to charges of enticing and trafficking minors for sex.
The connections stem from her relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in prison in August awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
She is being held without bail in the state, ahead of her transfer to New York – the jurisdiction which is prosecuting.
Ghislaine Maxwell pictured with Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell is in jail and Epstein killed himself
Those who know the French-born British socialite, who also holds U.S. citizenship, say they are concerned for her well-being.
‘I’m absolutely worried for her safety,’ said Christopher Mason, a TV host and journalist who has known Maxwell since the 1980s.
‘Do I think she’s in danger? Yes.’
Mason, who is appearing in the new docu-series ‘Surviving Jeffrey Epstein’ in August on Lifetime, added that the threat to Maxwell — now headed to the same Manhattan jail where Epstein died last August — could be greater because of reports she might cooperate with authorities.
He said he feared she could take her own life, like Epstein did, or be killed.
‘The authorities are open to the possibility of some cooperation,’ Mason said, according to the New York Post.
Christopher Mason, a friend of Maxwell’s since the 1980s, said he feared for her safety
‘In a way, I can’t imagine her ever giving up Prince Andrew, but if it’s life imprisonment with no hope of parole, it might be tempting.
‘She of all of those people knew who slept with whom and [which young girl] was assigned to whom.’
Epstein, 66, hanged himself inside his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center while facing charges he sexually abuse of dozens of minors and young women.
The death was ruled a suicide but a pathologist hired by the Epstein family claims his death was murder.
Video footage outside Epstein’s cell just prior to his death was mysteriously wiped and two corrections officers, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, have been charged with falsifying documents claiming they checked on him the night of his death.
Mason said Maxwell had access to potentially compromising videotapes.
Epstein was widely reported to have rigged his many homes with cameras and kept surveillance tapes of everyone and everything that went on in them.
The tapes have all disappeared, he said.
‘I’m sure she has access to the videos,’ Mason said. ‘
A lot of powerful people will be more than a little worried. I hope [Maxwell won’t] end up like Epstein. I’m a little worried about that.
‘I think she’s in danger. There is too much power involved if she really talks. ‘
Maxwell, pictured in July 2004, was on Epstein’s arm from 1992 and managed his affairs
Another friend who asked to remain anonymous told the Post is was strange she stayed in the U.S.
‘I don’t understand why [Maxwell] didn’t leave the country,’ the source said.
‘She has very high-powered friends and I am wondering why she stayed in the US. She must have some major dirt to stay in this country.’
The friend speculated that Prince Andrew had the most to worry about but added, ‘I can’t tell you how much he was involved.’
Mason said Maxwell ‘was my friend, but after the brutality of the treatment of these girls and the threats she made, it’s hard.’
He added: ‘Sympathy for her has evaporated.
‘She’s the daughter of a monstrous man and Jeffrey was the ideal replacement for her monstrous father so one could be exceedingly sympathetic — poor thing she had no chance, her father was a monster. That’s all she knew.
‘But she’s also a highly intelligent adult with choices.’