Ghislaine Maxwell moved house up to 36 times in the past year before being tracked down and arrested by the FBI
GHISLAINE Maxwell moved house up to 36 times in the past year — before the FBI finally pinned down her location a week before her arrest.
The Sun On Sunday can reveal details of the socialite’s life on the run in the US and the raid in which she was captured in New Hampshire.
The heiress, 58, is locked up accused of grooming kids for Prince Andrew’s billionaire paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein.
After placing her in handcuffs, FBI agents crowed that her arrest was sweeter than that of notorious US gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, an insider on the bust said.
They also discovered her British security guard — a former soldier described as “ex-Special Forces”. Mask-wearing in the Covid lockdown is said to have helped her avoid detection.
Maxwell’s arrest marked the end of a year’s journey which pals claim began on the West Coast, crisscrossed from Colorado to Wyoming and Idaho, before ending in the East.
A source close to Maxwell said: “Ghislaine has been constantly on the move throughout the last year. She would stay in properties for a few days or a week. Security guards were by her side due to death threats.
"She was never running from the Feds. She was running from journalists and crazy people who wanted to kill her. It was a serious problem. Her location was on a need-to-know basis.”
'£4million bond'
Maxwell, who has been charged in relation to US tycoon Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, is set to appear via video-link for a bail hearing in New York on Tuesday.
She is intending to “vigorously” defend herself and is seeking bail on a £4million bond, in return for home confinement, GPS monitoring and passport confiscation.
If the judge opens up the court’s public gallery, it will give people the first opportunity to catch a glimpse of her since last August.
Back then — just days after Epstein killed himself in jail — a picture showed Maxwell eating at an LA burger restaurant. Then she vanished.
But we have pieced together her journey from there to the £800,000 mansion she was arrested at on July 2. Our source claimed she was shuttled from safehouse to safehouse across the West.
One city she is understood to have gone to was Denver, Colorado — home of the law firm she is using.
The insider said: “I would say she moved around three times a month — 36 times. She took flights as well.”
Our source added she spent her days cooking and exercising and read a book by Boris Johnson — plus one on the Epstein scandal itself.
The source said: “She did go out, but not often. Obviously, with the coronavirus, people were wearing masks — it made things easier for her.”
She made her way to New Hampshire in the North East, along with a pet cat and two dogs.
Property records show a firm linked to her bought the secluded, 156-acre mansion, named Tuckedaway, in the rural town of Bradford in December last year.
The pal said she did not move in until after March. But Lois Kilnapp, the boss of the town’s recycling tip, said a long-haired British man, aged around 40, began coming from the mansion to dump rubbish from December.
'Arrested at Tuckedaway'
She knew he was from 338 East Washington Road — where Maxwell was later found — because she issued him with a $1 recycling permit for his pick-up truck.
Lois, 58, said: “I became very friendly with him. He was a bit of a character and I like characters. He was always smiling. I used to joke with him that he was the ‘Duke of Sussex’ because he led me to believe that he owned the home.”
In March, he told her he was heading back to the UK. But he introduced a second Brit to her, a man aged around 50, who took over recycling duties.
She added: “This guy wasn’t as outgoing. He didn’t really like to talk. Both men were big, rugged guys. I would guess that they were ex-military.” When Maxwell was arrested at Tuckedaway, a British man named Martin was found by the FBI living in a nearby guesthouse.
A law enforcement source told The Sun On Sunday that Martin was a security guard from a UK firm. He was described as a “former Special Forces soldier” who had been at Maxwell’s house since at least May this year.
A UK security firm is believed to have sent three or four ex-British servicemen to the property on rotation.
We told last week how Maxwell was revealed to have paid British veterans’ firm The Next Step nearly £150,000. Run by an ex-SAS hero, it provided advice on “preservation of life” and how to “relocate” but denied sending security to protect her.
The FBI raid is said to have involved about 20 agents plus two officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children taskforce — present when Epstein was raided.
He killed himself awaiting trial for the sex-trafficking of minors. Prince Andrew vehemently denies accusations he slept with one of his pal’s “sex slaves”, Virginia Roberts.
Yesterday, Ms Roberts — who claims she was abused by Maxwell and Epstein — lashed out at the plans for Ghislaine to “strike a deal” with prosecutors.
She tweeted: “Seriously America, wtf is going on?”
The raid on Maxwell’s home started at 8.33am and by 8.38am she was in custody.
The insider believes her house had only been discovered by the FBI a week earlier via “property records”.
The source added: “This was huge for them. They were saying, ‘This is bigger to us than Whitey Bulger’.”
Bulger, wanted for 19 murders, was on the run for 16 years before his arrest in California in 2011.
ANDY QUESTIONS
Michael Hamilton
PRINCE Andrew is said to be sweating on what happens next in the Ghislaine Maxwell case.
He vigorously denies any wrong-doing or witnessing abuse but fears he could be called as a witness in his former pal’s trial.
Here, expert on the case Nigel Cawthorne answers key questions.
Q. Will he be called to give evidence in Maxwell’s trial?
A. Highly likely.
Q. Could the duke refuse to travel to the US and what happens if he does go?
A. Refuse, and he can never hold his head up in public again. If he is questioned, it will make his Newsnight interview look like a walk in the park.
Q. Could Maxwell have evidence against the prince?
A. It is possible. We must assume Andrew has done nothing wrong. But if she incriminates him, the authorities would have to act.”
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