How Ghislaine Maxwell used Prince Andrew’s ‘stamp of approval’ to manipulate New York’s rich and powerful
GHISLAINE Maxwell was able to infiltrate New York’s elite because of the kudos attached to being Prince Andrew’s pal, it’s claimed.
Writer Helen Kirwan-Taylor, who mixed in the same exclusive circles as Maxwell, claimed the socialite traded on her royal pal to access Manhattan’s rich and powerful, which included financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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Writing in the Telegraph, Kirwan-Taylor lifted the lid on New York’s high society world, which Maxwell effortlessly operated within in the 1990s.
During this time Kirwan-Taylor was a glamorous TV producer and herself listed in Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous “little black book”, which was said to be curated by the financier’s razor sharp socialite partner from Britain.
Maxwell’s current home is a far cry from the glitzy life she forged in Manhattan.
The 58-year-old is currently locked up at the hellish Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, as she awaits trial on charges of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse girls.
But after Maxwell’s move to New York in 1991, Kirwan-Taylor remembers how she lived the high life, quickly worming her way into the city’s elite circles — partly because “she came with a stamp of approval from Prince Andrew”.
She said: “The thinking was if she hangs out with him, she must be OK.
“I observed how easy it was for someone with a British accent and the faint whiff of poshness to forge their way into the most exclusive circles.”
Describing Maxwell as being right in the “middle of the action”, she said: “Ghislaine was like a sniffer dog: sharp, alert and with a nose that could detect any useful information.”
The Duke of York said he met Maxwell while she was a student in the UK before she moved to the New York — following the mysterious death of her media mogul dad Robert Maxwell.
It wasn’t long after relocating to NYC that she had hooked up with Epstein who later befriended Prince Andrew.
Maxwell is alleged to have been at the centre of the financier’s sex trafficking ring which lured in girls for abuse, which she denies.
The Duke himself has been accused of having sex with one of the victims, Virginia Giuffre, a teenager who was allegedly recruited by Maxwell.
The thinking was if she hangs out with him, she must be OK
Kirwan-Taylor, writer and producer
Newly released court documents contain allegations made by Ms Giuffre that she was paid nearly $1,000 for spending two days alone with Andrew.
Hundreds of pages of court files have been made public today after a New York judge unsealed them as the case continues against Maxwell over her role as Epstein‘s alleged “madam”.
The documents, which were part of a 2015 defamation claim by Ms Giuffre against Maxwell, were released despite efforts by the incarcerated socialite to keep them secret.
They contain allegations made by Ms Giuffre that she was instructed to spend two days with the Duke at Epstein’s 7,559-acre Zorro ranch near Sante Fe, New Mexico in 2001.
During her lawsuit against Maxwell, whom she claimed recruited her as a sexual servant for Epstein, a judge struck out the allegations against Andrew as “lurid”, “immaterial and impertinent”.
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A friend of Prince Andrew told Sun Online: “The Zorro Ranch account is a serious inconsistency.
“Ms Robert’s lawyers have always claimed three alleged encounters: London, New York and Little St James.
“And now this fourth allegation. How so? Why has this never been raised before? And where is the evidence?
“I’d suggest you put these questions to her lawyers, not to the Duke.”
The pal added the US Federal Appeals court said 2019, these allegations should be treated with extreme ‘caution’.
“Allegations are not the same as facts, which is the essential premise on which justice works,” they said.
“Let’s see if these allegations stand-up, because precious few about the Duke do – where’s the proof?”