Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly selling her London home to raise funds for her legal defence in the US.
The British socialite has been in a New York jail since July over allegations that she and former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein groomed and abused young girls between 1994 and 1997.
The Daily Telegraph said Maxwell will sell her home in Kinnerton Street, Belgravia, where one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, alleges she was taken in 2001 to have sex with the Duke of York when she was 17.
The house is claimed to be the setting of the infamous photograph of Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist.
Ms Giuffre alleges she was groomed by Epstein from the age of 17, and claims the duke had sex with her on three separate occasions. The Duke of York has categorically denied he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, Andrew claimed while he recognised himself in the image, he did not think he had been to the upstairs of Ms Maxwell’s home, where the photo was said to have been shot.
Maxwell’s spokesman, Brian Basham, confirmed to the Telegraph the intended sale of the house, the proceeds of which are expected to boost Maxwell’s legal fighting fund from 7 million US dollars (£5.02 million) to more than 10 million dollars (£7.17 million).
“Ghislaine will be sad to see the house sold,” Mr Basham told the paper.
“She is devastated by all this. She will have a lot of good memories. She will be terribly sad to sell the house. It was her refuge in London.”
Earlier this week, Maxwell’s brother Ian said he “recognised” the location of the photograph.
He appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme to campaign for her to be released pending trial.
Asked what he knows about the photograph, he replied:“I don’t know anything about the photograph other than that I’ve seen it’s been published.” Asked if the image was taken at his sister’s home, he said: “I do recognise that setting.”
Epstein was 66 when he killed himself in jail in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
