Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers cite COVID-19 concerns, push for $5M bond and home confinement

Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers cite COVID-19 concerns, push for $5M bond and home confinement

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who was best buddies with convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, are arguing she be released from lock-up due to health risks stemming from COVID-19.

Maxwell was arrested on July 2 in New Hampshire on charges she conspired with Epstein to sexually abuse minors and then lied to prosecutors about it.

Maxwell's lawyers filed a memo Friday with the court opposing the government's motion for detention. They claim health risks associated with coronavirus and a $5 million bond should be enough to let Maxwell wait out her trial at home.

Maxwell's lawyers also claimed the government has not met its burden under bail reform laws to hold her in detention.

"The proposed bail conditions are consistent with those approved by courts in the Circuit in other high-profiles cases, and should be approved here," her lawyer wrote.

Maxwell, who has a bail hearing on Tuesday, was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire. She had been living in her million-dollar mansion which features 156 acres of mountainside property, prosecutors said.

She is facing six charges for conspiring with Epstein in a multi-state sex trafficking ring involving three unnamed minors between 1991 and 1997.

If convicted, she would face 35 years in prison.

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