Tje ex-girlfriend to Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges she helped traffic young women for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.Maxwell appeared via video conference for her arraignment on a six-count indictment charging her with recruiting and grooming young women to be molested by Epstein. Prosecutors said she took part in some of the abuse herself.“How do you wish to plead to the charges?” Manhattan federal court Judge Alison Nathan asked.“Not guilty, your honor,” Maxwell replied in a raspy voice.The 58-year-old British socialite was arrested July 2 at a sprawling New Hampshire mansion where she’d been hiding.Prosecutors urged Nathan to remand Maxwell, calling her an “extreme” flight risk with the means to flee — including more than $20 million in the bank and three passports.But defense lawyers pushed for bail, claiming Maxwell was hiding from the “intrusive” media — and not authorities — when she dropped out of the public eye after Epstein’s arrest last July.Nathan will make a ruling on Maxwell’s bail later in the proceeding.Epstein, Maxwell’s former lover and convicted pedophile, committed suicide while locked up at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on sex-trafficking charges.She was being held pre-arraignment at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
