Ghislaine Maxwell’s siblings say the family has always been very close. But when the three sisters and three brothers rushed to prepare a $28.5 million bail package after Ghislaine was arrested in July 2020, some of them were surprised to learn that not only was she married to the businessman she’d been dating for the previous seven years — she was also a stepmother to his two young children.
“It’s the first time we knew they were married, when we heard the word ‘spouse’ mentioned in the bail hearing,” Ian Maxwell, Ghislaine’s brother, told The Post of Scott Borgerson, 45.
Ghislaine, now 59, secretly wed the tech millionaire in 2016, Ian said, adding that the couple maintained “the most private of lives to protect their young children. She did not want to submit her family to the publicity.
Now, as Ghislaine goes on trial on Monday, her family has launched a high-profile campaign to fight for her, speaking out in her defense and taking their protest to the UN.
The siblings are on her side despite the incredibly serious crimes Ghislaine is accused of, including six counts of allegedly procuring underage girls for her friend Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile, between 1994 and 2004.
Blood, it seems, is thicker than water — even when your sister is accused of heinous crimes and was cozy with a monster.
“[Epstein] was clearly a master manipulator who has ruined many lives and continues to do so long after his death,” Ian told The Post. “This makes his crimes particularly reprehensible. ‘
It was widely reported that Ghislaine was on the run because of her alleged role in Epstein’s crimes. According to Ian, his sister “was never in hiding” after the 2019 death of Epstein, who committed suicide in a Manhattan lock-up while awaiting his trial on sex-trafficking charges.
“She and her lawyers were in communication with the authorities. They knew where she was the whole time,” Ian, 65, maintained. “She hadn’t slithered away to a gorgeous property, which is why we were really opposed to the theatricality of her arrest.”
On July 2, 2020, FBI helicopters rumbled over the quaint rural town of Bradford, NH, and federal agents surrounded Ghislaine and Borgerson’s $1 million home, which she reportedly had purchased months before in an all-cash deal. A tech millionaire, Borgerson is the father of a 14-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl from his marriage to his first wife, Rebecca. When the children came to stay with their father, Ghislaine made them lunch and accompanied them to school, according to a report.
The six Maxwell siblings, Borgerson and other distant relatives have all contributed to Ghislaine’s bond package, and many of the brothers and sisters have taken an active role in her defense, Ian said. Other than her family, the identity of her supporters has been kept confidential as many fear losing their livelihoods over their association with her, Ian added.
“People have to remain anonymous because they have lost their livelihoods for supporting Ghislaine,” he said. “One person was asked to step down from two board positions. We live in a world where you can be canceled quite easily.”
A London-based businessman and the family’s acting spokesperson, Ian is handling media inquiries. Sisters Isabel and Christine, 71-year-old twins and tech entrepreneurs, act as archivists and researchers — and offer technical support with RealGhislaine.com, a clearinghouse for press coverage and other information about their sister. The other siblings — Philip, Anne and Kevin — contribute with legal strategy and moral support, according to Ian.
The family celebrated a coup on Monday, when leading human rights attorney Francois Zimeray submitted a petition on their behalf to the United Nations Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva. It calls for the US to release Ghislaine “without delay” and demands an investigation into her “arbitrary detention” and the “violation of her rights.”
Ian argued that his sister is being held in “pretty medieval conditions” at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and treated “worse than a terrorist on death row.” He said that she is deprived of sleep by guards who shine a light in her eyes every 15 minutes overnight; that she is subject to seven body searches per day; and that she has appeared in court shackled and surrounded by 30 federal marshals.
In sketches of Epstein attending court hearings, there are no restraints visible, whereas at one court appearance this month, Ghislaine “was forced to climb into the transport van on her hands and knees because she was restricted by the shackles,” according to the UN petition.
For that Nov. 1 court appearance, she was kept in chains during the hearing, a family member who was there told The Post.
“The UN petition shines a powerful light on these practices that have a misogynistic element,” said Ian, adding that convicted criminals Harvey Weinstein, Bernie Madoff and John Gotti received better pre-trial conditions and only had to put up a fraction of what his sister had to put up as a bond to make bail.
Weinstein, who was found guilty of rape and sexual assault last year, had his bail increased from $1 million to $5 million in 2019 when he mishandled his ankle monitor. Bernie Madoff, who was convicted of running the largest Ponzi scheme in history, posted $10 million in bail when he was arrested in December 2008. John Gotti Jr. of the powerful Gambino crime family was released on $10 million bail in 1998.
“It’s incomprehensible to me that America should treat anyone like this, let alone my sister,” Ian said. “What all this tells us is that, having lost Epstein … [authorities] are taking it out on Ghislaine. In some respects she is paying the price for Epstein.”
Despite extensive reports of Ghislaine’s longtime and very close friendship with Epstein — well documented in photos that show them being affectionate — she kept him largely hidden from her family.
“Ghislaine has always kept her private life private … we did not see or know about their friendship in any detail at all,” Ian said. “All of my siblings — except Anne who never met him — met Epstein: Once, in the case of Kevin, Philip and I, and a couple of times in the case of Christine and Isabel. All of us had a similar impression of him: intelligent but not a warm character, a little cagey even, with a low attention threshold.”
Ian is upset that, in his view, the media has sought to try his sister.
“She had a tough start in her own life, but it led to her being surprisingly independent and being her own person,” he said.
Ghislaine was born on Dec. 25, 1961, and her her eldest brother, Michael, died two days later — having been in a coma for eight years following a car accident at age 15 — sending her parents into deep mourning. The Maxwells were so overwhelmed by grief that they ignored Ghislaine until she was about five years old, Ian said.
Her siblings believe that Epstein acted on his own, and lived such a “compartmentalized” life that Ghislaine had no idea what her close friend was doing. This despite allegations that she allegedly scouted out young girls for alleged sexual abuse. “It kind of worked like a pyramid scheme,” said Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was used as a sex slave by Epstein and was allegedly forced to have sex with Prince Andrew. “Ghislaine brought me in.”
“The idea that [Ghislaine] would be groomed to carry out these odious acts, I just can’t conceive of it,” Ian said.
“Ghislaine is convinced that she will be exonerated,” he added. “If you look at the voices that have been shouting about this case, you’ve heard every voice except Ghislaine’s.”
The siblings also seem to have a favorable view of their father, Robert Maxwell, a self-made billionaire who rose from poverty as a Czech refugee to become a British war hero, Labour MP and media baron. On Nov. 5, 1991, he fell to his death aboard his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine. Days after the news, it was discovered that Robert had raided his companies’ pension funds to shore up his empire, which was on the brink of collapse.
Ian and Kevin, who were involved in the family company, were arrested in 1992 and charged in the pension fraud. They were acquitted three and a half years later. The seven Maxwell siblings last got together in London on June 10, 2019 on what would have been their father’s 96th birthday, said Ian.
“We’ve had a rollercoaster of a time for 50 years,” Ian said. “Our father’s reputation was trashed beyond belief. Here, we are again fighting, fighting, fighting. This time, let’s bring this ship home.”
