- Ghislaine Maxwell said she slept with Jeffrey Epstein once and expected to date him
- Maxwell met Epstein in 1991 when he was seeking a wife and moved to New York
- She became Epstein’s “general manager” and joined his payroll, earning up to $250,000
Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has said that she “slept” with him one time, and her first thought was that they were soon going to start dating. Recalling their early encounters in an interview with the US Department of Justice, she said: “Slept with him one time and thought, 'we're going to be dating'."
"That's the world I came from," she said.
The interview was conducted last month with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in Florida, during which Maxwell described how she believed their relationship was heading towards romance, only to find herself increasingly entangled in Epstein's affairs.
Now a federal prisoner, she recounted that in 1991 she was introduced to Epstein, who, at the time, was “looking for a wife”. This came shortly after she moved to New York following the end of her engagement. "I met him at his offices on Madison Garden (sic). And I think the most memorable thing I can think about is that he was wearing a tie, which he didn't often do," she said.
But their relationship did not develop immediately. Epstein, she said, asked her to find him a new apartment. She secured one for him while she moved into a smaller flat of her own. At the time, she said Epstein felt like her “lifeline”.
Eventually, she came to view herself as “general manager” of the convicted paedophile's property empire, while also being drawn into his private life, Maxwell said, according to audio tapes and transcripts released on August 22, reported The New York Post.
Between 1992 and 1996, their professional and personal lives became more intertwined. They travelled together. Though they often shared a bed, Maxwell said they rarely had intercourse. “Epstein told me he had a heart condition, which meant that he didn't have intercourse a lot, which suited me fine, because I actually do have a medical condition which precludes me from having a lot of intercourse,” she said. “Epstein liked other forms of sexual activities,” she added.
Maxwell said she spent most of her time with him in the office and would mentally count the occasions she saw him. She soon joined Epstein's payroll, initially earning $25,000 a year. Her salary grew to $250,000 as she took on the running of his multi-million-dollar properties.
The pair's sexual relationship dwindled after 1999, Maxwell claimed, with 9/11 marking the moment she realised their romance was over. “It was a scary time if you were in New York…And he was on 71st Street, and I was on 65th Street at my house. And he wouldn't come see me at all,” she said. “Then I knew…if you're not going to be there for someone on 9/11, you're never going to be there. So for me, that was the line's end.”
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in recruiting and grooming young women for Epstein to sexually abuse and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Epstein died in 2019 while in custody in Brooklyn.
