[0:00]my name is Audrey Straus I'm the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York today we announced charges against Colleen Maxwell for
[0:10]helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls from the
[0:18]period of 1994 through 1997 Maxwell has been taken into custody early this morning in New Hampshire and will be
[0:29]presented this afternoon before a magistrate judge in the district of New Hampshire you'll recall that the indictment against Jeffrey M Epstein
[0:41]that we filed in July of 2019 charged Epstein with sexual abuse of young girls
[0:48]from 2002 through 2005 this case against ghilane max wealth is the prequel to the
[0:58]earlier case that we brought against Jeffrey Epstein as alleged starting in
[1:06]1994 until at least 1997 Maxwell at a
[1:17]personal and professional relationship with Jeffrey Epstein Maxwell was among Epstein's closest
[1:51]associates and helped him exploit girls who were as young as 14 years old Maxwell played a critical role in
[2:02]helping Epstein to identify the friend and groom minor victims for abuse in some cases Maxwell participated in the
[2:12]abuse herself as alleged Maxwell and Epstein had a method typically they would befriend these young girls by
[2:21]asking them questions about their lives pretending to be taking an interest in them it would take them to the movies
[2:30]and treat them to shopping trips Maxwell would encourage these young girls to accept offers from Epstein to pay for their travel and their education making
[2:41]these young victims feel indebted to Jeffrey Epstein after developing a rapport with the victims Maxwell then tried to normalize sexual abuse with a
[2:52]minor victim through a process known as grooming for example Maxwell would discuss sexual topics with the victim
[3:02]and undress in front of the victim or be present for sex acts involving the minor victims and Epstein Maxwell's presence
[3:12]as an adult woman helped put the victims at ease as Maxwell and Epstein intended this grooming process left the minor
[3:22]victims susceptible to sexual abuse that imbues included sexualized massages
[3:31]during which the minor victim was fully or partially nude the sexualized massages developed into sexual encounters for which Maxwell in some
[3:43]instances was present and participated Maxwell and Epstein worked together to entice these minor victims to travel to
[3:54]Epstein's residences depicted on the other depicted on the other chart at the front of the room his residence in New York City on the
[4:03]Upper East Side as well as Palm Beach Florida and Santa Fe New Mexico some of the acts of abuse also took place in
[4:14]Maxwell's residence in London England in addition to allegedly enabling and participating in the sexual abuse of
[4:25]young victims Maxwell compounded her crimes by repeatedly lying in 2016 when she was questioned under oath and we
[4:35]have charged those lies into the perjury counts Maxwell lied because the truth as
[4:44]alleged was almost unspeakable Maxwell enticed minor girls got them to trust her then delivered them into the trap
[4:56]that she and Epstein had set for them she pretended to be a woman they could trust all the while she was setting them
[5:05]up to be sexually abused by Epstein and in some cases by Maxwell herself today after many years Gawain Maxwell finally
[5:17]stands charged for her role in these crimes these charges we announced today
[5:27]are the latest result of our investigation into Epstein and the people around him who facilitated his abuse of minor victims that
[5:37]investigation remains ongoing my office and the FBI remain committed to doing all within our ability to bring justice
[5:47]to individuals who enabled facilitated and participated in the acts of abuse combating the exploitation of children is a priority of our office we are
[5:59]committed to pursuing and prosecuting those who exploit and abused minors in case and in this case in every case and to that end I want to say to anyone who
[6:11]is watching or hears about this prosecution if you believe you are a victim of Jeffrey Epstein or ghilane Maxwell or anyone else who helped them
[6:21]regardless of when it occurred or have information about the conduct alleged in the indictment unsealed today please let us know you can reach the FBI and have
[6:31]access to victim and witness services by calling us at one eight hundred b.i to my left is William Sweeney the
[6:41]assistant director in charge of the FBI's field office and also to my left is Commissioner Dermot McKay and Chief
[6:50]of Detectives Rodney Harrison I want to thank them and their teams for their dedication and professionalism and seeing this investigation through to the
[7:01]end I also want to acknowledge and thank the career prosecutors of my office who are handling the investigation of prosecution of this case Alex Ross Miller
[7:12]Maureen Comey and Alison MO I want to also thank their chiefs Russell Capone and Edward discont the Chiefs of the public corruption unit
[7:24]finally I want to thank and commend the brave women who were willing to come forward decades after their abuse and tell us what happened to them without
[7:34]whom these charges could not have been brought today and we thank them for their courage and we are proud to stand here on their behalf in bringing this case I now want
[7:46]to invite up our good friend assistant director bill Sweeney Thank You Thank You Audrey almost one
[8:03]year ago when our offices stood before you and announced the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein I stated that preserving the innocence of children is among the most important responsibilities we carry as
[8:13]adults too often adults in our society have turned a blind eye to the type of criminal behavior that we announced back then and announced again today the
[8:23]villains in these outrageous crimes are the adult perpetrators not the youth who are our neighbors our students vulnerable foster children and teens
[8:33]seeking support today we announced the arrest of one of the villains in this investigation early this morning d'Alene Maxwell was arrested in Bradford New Hampshire by
[8:43]FBI Special Agents and NYPD detectives from the FBI NYPD crimes against children Task Force our team from New York was assisted by special agents assigned to our Boston
[8:54]Newark New Haven and Albany field offices we have been discretely keeping tabs on Maxwell's whereabouts as we work this investigation and more recently we learned she had slithered away to a
[9:05]gorgeous property in New Hampshire continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims live with the trauma inflicted upon them years ago we moved when we were ready that miss Maxwell was
[9:17]arrested without incident like Epstein miss Maxwell chose to blatantly disregard the law and her responsibilities as an adult using whatever means she had at her disposal
[9:28]to lure vulnerable youth into behavior they should never have been exposed and which creates lasting harm we alleged that from at least 1994 through at least 1997
[9:39]miss Maxwell assisted Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by helping to recruit entice groom and abuse children under the age of 18 she befriended the
[9:50]innocent attempted to normalize sexual abuse and work to put victims at ease aware the entire time of the abuse that would follow one question about her
[10:00]conduct in 2016 we alleged mr. Maxwell lied under oath I'd like to take a moment again to speak directly to the victims there never was nor shall there
[10:10]be an excuse for the criminal behavior you were subjected to we know that your quest for justice has been met with great disappointment and that reliving these events is traumatic when we met
[10:21]you we told you that in the eyes of the FBI you come first I would like to thank you for the trust you placed in our investigative teams as we work to hold the adult perpetrators accountable for
[10:33]the many victims of other adult perpetrators who may be listening or get word of today's announcement the example set by the women involved in this investigation has been a powerful one
[10:43]they persevered against the rich and the connected and they did so without a badge a gun or a subpoena and they stood together I have no doubt the bravery exhibited by the women in this
[10:54]investigation has empowered others to speak up about the crimes that they have been subjected to if you are listening today and are the victim of child sex
[11:04]trafficking please call 1-800 call FBI or contact us online at tipsy I gov if you're an adult who believes a child or
[11:16]a teen is being exploited or believed a child or a teen has exhibited signs of exploitation please contact law enforcement the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website
[11:27]is a great resource for information about the indicators of sex trafficking take a few minutes to educate yourself click on the issue section of that website take a moment to learn how to
[11:38]spot the vulnerable and protect them the website is missing kids org finally I want to extend my sincere thanks to the task force
[11:48]in New York the leadership and the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York you have quietly and professionally executed your mission as public servants advocating for the most vulnerable
[11:59]Society and holding perpetrators accountable regardless of their perceived wealth actions or the passage of time thank you for putting the victims first I'm going
[12:10]to turn it over to Commissioner Shea good afternoon everyone all greet bill thank you for the opportunity to speak
[12:22]here today and I'll let go really their words in my view we were here for one reason today and one reason only for the victims for the survivors of these heinous crimes and I will remind
[12:33]everyone that although we were talking about periods of time 20 or close to 30 years in the past for the victims the survivors of these sexual assaults these crimes are as fresh today and the impact
[12:45]that they caused on their psyche as they were then I want to take a special moment to thank chief Rodney Harrison and the men and women of the New York City Police Department that worked on this case hand-in-hand with bill
[12:56]Sweeney's special agents thank you I'll
[13:05]take questions we'll take questions well I think that bill Sweeney has given
[13:28]you a sense of that that she and I was being kept and information was being collected and then the indictment was just recently voted and filed and that
[13:40]was when we were able and prepared to move to arrest her I'm not going to comment on anyone's
[14:00]status in in this investigation but I will say that we would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us we would like to have the benefit of his
[14:10]statement you know I have no further comment beyond what I just said which is
[14:20]that our doors remain open have we as we've previously said and we would welcome him coming in and giving us an
[14:26]opportunity to hear his statement we were working hard on this investigation
[14:37]this past year it's it's it's not easy to put together a case that goes back that far but it was not you know and there's nothing other than we did the
[14:48]investigation and we were ready at this time to proceed I'm here your question I
[14:58]I'm not going to comment on that I'm not gonna come on that and and that's who I will I will not comment on we that's
[15:09]where we found her this morning again I won't comment when we up beyond
[15:27]the scope of the indictment you can read the indictment and see the kind of allegations we made and therefore the evidence that we will bring forward to prove those you can kind of figure out
[15:37]but I'm not gonna comment on the specific evidence in the case that will be that will be seen in the event that
[15:43]she goes to trial that I cannot speak to
[15:55]um did you just see in one indictment covers this one period and the other covers the other and whatever is not said is not something I can speak to it to beyond the four corners of the
[16:03]indictment not at all we will be we will be seeking detention
[16:29]and you know we are sensitive to that concern and certainly will be in dialogue with the Bureau of Prisons about it this sometimes happens where their
[16:52]perjury charges and people can go on from there and become co-operators if that's what you're asking so I'm not concerned about that in the event that she were to become a cooperator I think
[17:02]that we can deal with that yeah I I'm not gonna speak to that we're not going
[17:12]to talk about that thank you