Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell will announce her sentencing later this month on behalf of her ex-boyfriend and employer, the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Manhattan federal court on charges of trafficking girls. filed a slew of court documents asking for leniency, but the name of the other person has also been revealed. The topic of billionaire Gateway Computer co-founder Ted Waite, the billionaire's ex-boyfriend, kept coming up.
As part of her bid for a lighter sentence, Maxwell had hoped to form a “loving bond” with Waite's young children and become a stepmother to them before the Epstein scandal disrupted her relationship with the tech mogul. claims.
Waits has not commented on her past relationship with the British heiress and now-convicted sex trafficker, but reports have linked her to a former lover and friend of the Clinton family. Mr. Waitt is mentioned many times. In fact, Maxwell is said to have been Waits' partner at Chelsea Clinton's 2010 wedding. The billionaire philanthropist's name also surfaced at Maxwell's criminal trial in late December.
Maxwell's latest filing says his longtime romance with Waite ended after the former Miami lawyer “attempted to blackmail” him. (That lawyer, Scott Rothstein, ran the law firm that once employed Brad Edwards, a prominent lawyer for Epstein victims.) Rothstein has nothing to do with the Epstein case or Edwards himself. He was fired and convicted of running a $1.2 billion pyramid scheme.)
“In 2003, Ms. Maxwell entered into a seven-year romantic relationship with Mr. Theodore 'Ted' Waite and formed strong and loving bonds with their four children, ranging in age from 6 to 12,” the judgment memorandum said. It is stated in. “Her relationship with Waite was well on its way to her marriage, giving her what she had always wanted and desired most: the opportunity for her loving, stable family life, and the opportunity for Waite to… gave her the opportunity to become a stepmother to her children.
“But, like so much of her life, her hopes were dashed by her previous relationship with Epstein,” said Miami attorney Scott W. Rothstein. “attempted to intimidate Mr. Waits to keep Mr. Maxwell's name out of a civil lawsuit related to Mr. Epstein that was being filed by the law firm of Mr. Waits,” the complaint continues. “MS. Maxwell and Waite's relationship could not survive the threat of blackmail and ended soon after.”
A footnote adds: “Rothstein targeted Waite, a deep-pocketed co-founder of Gateway Inc., because of his ongoing relationship with Ms. Maxwell, who previously had an affair with Epstein.” Mr. Waite successfully resisted Mr. Rothstein's blackmail attempts, but Mr. Maxwell [Rothstein’s firm]. As it turned out, Ms. Maxwell and Ms. Waite's relationship could not survive the ordeal. ”
Ms Maxwell will be reeling as a result of the charges, her lawyers have argued. This time, court documents allege, her marriage to her secret husband, former Coast Guard officer Scott Borgerson, succumbed to the “adverse effects” of the criminal case.
The memo insists that Maxwell is “not an heiress, a villain, or a volatile socialite.” The document lists her accomplishments and “desire to do good in the world,” noting that she became a paramedic, founded the marine charity TerraMar, and helped “launch the Clinton Global Initiative.” It is added that he contributed.
“She has also sought to protect those around her (Ted Waite's children, her stepchildren, and the people of Terramar) from the onslaught of media and public slander associated with her association.” It has been added to the application.
In a separate filing, Maxwell's lawyers noted that “she has had two committed, long-term, loving relationships with men with young children,” one of whom is believed to be Mr. Waite.
Ms Waite may have been friendly with Ms Maxwell before her arrest in 2020.
Last year, an acquaintance of Maxwell and Borgerson told The Daily Beast that the couple chatted with Waits at an event.
Maxwell is known to rub elbows with Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and is one of those VIPs. The department claimed that she was introduced to her by Mr. Waite, who borrowed her name.
In 2020, a source close to Mr. Schmidt told the Beast that the Google billionaire met Mr. Maxwell through Mr. Waits at an event related to the Clintons.
At Ms. Maxwell's trial late last year, her lawyers introduced the names of other women with whom Mr. Epstein had relationships and referred to Ms. Waite during certain cross-examinations.
During cross-examination by Epstein's longtime pilot Larry Visoski, Maxwell's lawyers asked questions about Waite, suggesting the socialite had all but disappeared from Epstein's life by the mid-2000s. “Isn't it true that by 2004, Ghislaine was in a committed relationship with another man?” the lawyer asked Vysoski, who answered in the affirmative.
The lawyer asked whether Mr. Vysoski knew Mr. Waite and whether they had been in a relationship before 2004.
“I don't know if it was a relationship, but I do know that she spent a lot of time with Mr. Waite. He completed the boat, where she helped decorate the boat and build the helipad. “I think it was,” Vysosky said. I answered.
Mr. Vysoski added that Mr. Maxwell introduced him to Mr. Waite's pilots, and the aviators became friends.
Four victims testified against Maxwell, saying she facilitated Epstein's sexual abuse at locations around the world, including a London townhouse.
One of the accusers, identified under the pseudonym Jane Doe, was 14 years old when Epstein and Maxwell scouted her to a prestigious arts summer camp in the 1990s. She said the socialite trained her to perform sexual services for Epstein and that she “looked very casual” and “like it was just normal and no big deal.” '' he testified.
“I was confused because it wasn't normal for me,” Jane said, adding that she was embarrassed by the abuse. “When you're 14, you have no idea what's going on.”
Meanwhile, Wednesday's court filing included letters of support for Maxwell from friends and relatives, including: new york times Archivist Jeffrey Ross attended most of the trial alongside his brother. His letter solved a mystery that had puzzled several journalists. Who was this lanky observer in Maxwell's inner circle?
“I am a member of the New York Times staff and a cousin of Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell,” his letter said. She added, “Be frank, kind, and respectful. These are the qualities all parents look for in their children. I saw them in Mr. Maxwell many times.”
