GALLO
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IMAGES,
COLLECT
In1991,whenshewas29,herfather
wasfoundfloatingintheAtlanticOcean,
havingapparentlyfallenoverboardthe
LadyGhislaineneartheCanaryIslands.
A verdictofaccidentaldrowningwas
recordedbutwhenitwasdiscovered
Maxwell’sbusinessempirehadfallen
apart,suspiciongrewoverthecauseof
death.Maxwellleftbehindchaosinthe
formofa £460million(R8,5billion)hole
inthepensionfundofMirrorGroup
Newspapers.
Ghislainefledthescandal,leavingher
brothersKevinandIantotaketheflak.
Sheboardeda Concordeandheadedfor
NewYorkwherehercut-glassBritishac-
centandconnectionsgavehera pass
intofashionableManhattan.
It washereshemetEpstein,whotook
thegrievingGhislaineunderhiswing.
Theydatedfora whileandwhenthe
relationshipfizzledouttheybecamefast
friends.
Ghislaine,whowasa lotmoresociable
thanEpstein,introducedhimtothelikes
ofPrinceAndrewandNaomiCampbell
andcharmedDonaldTrumpandBill
andHillaryClinton.
Virginiaalsoclaimstohavehadsexwith
PrinceAndrewwhenshewas17.Ina now
famousphotooftheroyalwithhisarm
aroundVirginia’sbarewaist,Ghislainecan
beseengrinninginthebackground.
VirginiaclaimsGhislaine“hadsex
withunderagegirlsvirtuallyeveryday”.
BackatEpstein’sPalmBeachhome,
Ghislainemadeherselfthe“ladyofthe
house”,accordingtoanemployee.
“Jefftookherinandshelookedaround
andrealisedshecouldreplacethelife-
styleshe’dhad– andwhata lifestyleit
was,”a friendsays.
“Shecouldgobacktodoingwhatever
shewanted.Previouslythepriceofthat
hadbeenhavingherfather.Nowthe
pricewasthisguy.Whattheybothen-
abled her to do was be herself. She could
go off and be this madcap spirit.”
On weekends in the 1990s Ghislainewouldhaveherrollerbladescourieredto
Epstein’sCaribbeanisland,andgother
helicopterpilot’slicencesoshecould
transportanyoneshelikedtotheisland.
A sourceclosetoGhislainetoldVanity
Fairthesocialitespokegliblyaboutre -
cruitinggirlsforEpstein,describinghow
she’ddrivearoundtospasandtrailer
parksinFloridatofindthem.
She’dclaimshehada phonejobfor
them,“andyou’llmakelotsofmoney,
meeteveryone,andI’llchangeyourlife”.
“GhislainewasinlovewithJeffreythe
wayshewasinlovewithherfather.She
always thought if she just did one more
thing for him, to please him, he’d marry her.
“When I asked what she thought of the
underage girls she looked at me and said,
‘They’re nothing. They’re trash’.”A
UTHORITIES are now trying
to get to the bottom of how
Epstein was able to kill him-
self in prison despite being
placed on suicide watch.
Staff shortages have been
blamed for his death after the jail was
lambasted by Attorney General William
Barr. Neither of the two guards in charge
of keeping an eye on the prisoner had
checked on Epstein for
hours before he was discove
officials told the New Yor
Times.
Until recently Ghislaine,
the one person who could
throw light on his years of
predatory sexual behav-
iour, had been lying low.
Despite the 2008 prosecu-
tion and jailing of her form
boyfriend, who pleaded g
toa countofsolicitingpros ofrom an underage girl, Ghislaine initially
maintained her high-profile life.
She founded a charity, the TerraMar
Project, and even addressed the United
Nationsaboutoceanicmatters.Andshe
continuedtomingleinhighsociety,
attending the 2010 wedding of Chelsea
Clinton, Bill and Hillary’s daughter.
But as the evidence against Epstein
mounted, Ghislaine increasingly with-
drew from the public eye, distanced her-
self from her friend and in 2016 disap-
peared from the party circuit altogether.
Since Epstein’s death, TerraMar has
announced it’s ceasing all operations.
Ghislaine was recently spotted at a res-
taurant in Los Angeles, the first time
she’s been seen in public since Epstein’s
death. Her new boyfriend is believed to
be Scott Borgerson (43), a tech CEO who
left his wife and young children for Ghis-
laine five years ago.
Borgerson’s divorce records include al-
legations of him being abusive and hav-
ing an alcohol problem, according to the
Daily Mail.
A New Yorker who knew Ghislaine
back in the ’90s described her back then
as “a modern-day geisha girl of the capi-
talist world”.
“She inhabits a domain filled with the
richest people in the world – some of
whom are good guys and some of whom
are bad – and who think they’re above
thelaw,”hetoldTheTimes.
“It’sa worldfrequentedbyyounghalf-
nakedgirlsinbikinis,billionairesand
lavishlifestyles,butitbordersonthe
grotesque. You’re never really sure what’s
going on behind closed doors.”
NowGhislaine will find herself under
pressure to shed light on
ly what went on behind
se doors. S
URCES: THETIMES.CO.UK, TELEGRAPH.
O.UK, VANITYFAIR.COM, BBC.COM,
THEGUARDIAN.COM, TIMESLIVE.CO.ZA,
DAILYMAIL.CO.UKYOU NEWS
ABOVERIGHT:VirginiaGiuffrehasaccused
Ghislaine of recruiting her at Donald Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in the USA.
RIGHT:Virginia with her dad, Sky Roberts,
whosaysGhislaine must answer for her
actions.LEFT:Ghislainewithherfather,mediamogulRobertMaxwell,whodiedinmysterious
circumstances in 1991. ABOVE LEFT (circled): The British socialite at the 2010 wedding of
former US president Bill Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea. ABOVE RIGHT: With President Donald
Trump, a one-time friend of Epstein.