Ghislaine Maxwell, Accused Epstein Accomplice, Photographed In Jail With Black Eye

Ghislaine Maxwell is sporting an unexplained black eye in her first photo released from prison.

In a Thursday court filing, Maxwell’s attorney Bobbi Sternheim included a photograph of the Jeffrey Epstein confidante with an apparent shiner. 

“Last night, she was confronted by MDC [Metropolitan Detention Center] staff due [to] a visible bruise over her left eye,” Sternheim wrote in the filing, obtained by Oxygen.com. 

The document claims that “no guard addressed the bruise until Ms. Maxwell, who has no mirror, caught a reflection of her aching eye in the glean of a nail clipper. At that point, MDC staff confronted Ms. Maxwell regarding the source of the bruise, threatening to place her in the SHU [solitary confinement] if she did not reveal how she got it. While Ms. Maxwell is unaware of the cause of the bruise, as reported to medical and psych staff, she has grown increasingly reluctant to report information to the guards for fear of retaliation, discipline, and punitive chores.”

Sternheim wrote that the bruise could be related to Maxwell’s “need’ to “shield her eyes from the lights projected into her cell throughout the night.”

Photo: Law Offices of Bobbi C. Sternheim

The attorney wrote that Maxwell’s legal team previously expressed “concern that she was improperly deprived of sleep while detained."

Sternheim wrote that Maxwell “continues to be disrupted throughout the night by guards shining a flash/strobe light into her cell, claiming that her breathing must be checked.”  He wrote that they check on her every 15 minutes, and that she uses a "sock or towel to cover her eyes in an awkward attempt to shield them."

He added this his client is not considered a suicide risk, calling her "an inmate with no significant mental health care."

Maxwell, 59, is behind held in the jail without bail, awaiting trial. She is accused of helping traffic and sexually abuse girls in tandem with Jeffrey Epstein, who died under suspicious circumstances while in the same facility where Maxwell is currently being held. She was arrested in 2020 and charged with enticement and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, as well as perjury, according to a federal indictment unsealed and previously obtained by Oxygen.com. She pleaded not guilty last year to all charges.

“In particular, from at least in or about 1994, up to and including at least in or about 1997, Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18," the indictment alleges. It also states that Maxwell "and Epstein enticed victims to engage in sexual activity with Epstein. In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims."

Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in August 2019 at age 66, just one month after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges, referred to Maxwell as his "best friend" in a 2003 Vanity Fair profile. However, their relationship was allegedly much more sinister than mere friendship. As the indictment states, Maxwell has been accused of recruiting and grooming teen girls, in Epstein's pyramid of sexual abuse. 

Maxwell’s family has expressed outrage over the black eye.

“I am shocked my sister’s guards didn’t immediately refer her for proper medical care,” Maxwell’s brother, Ian Maxwell, said in a statement.  “Instead they bullied and harassed her, effectively blaming the victim. The simple solution is to review the round-the-clock security camera footage to see what may have occurred. Apart from whatever happened in this ‘House of Horrors,’ I can report that Ghislaine’s family and friends continue to support her.”