1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: The millionaire sex offender and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who died 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: in prison in twenty nineteen, has been in the news lately. 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: His friendship with business moguls, powerful politicians, and even royalty 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: continues to be a topic of discussion six years later, 5 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: and taking a lot of the heat originally directed at 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: him is his former girlfriend turned wingman who's now in 7 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: prison as well. What does she know and where did 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: she come from? I'm Patty Steele, Gilaine Maxwell, and the 9 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: two men closest to her were both wildly powerful and 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: both dead under suspicious circumstances. That's next on the backstory. 11 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: The backstory is back. The Jeffrey Epstein story is all 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 1: over the news these days. Lots of questions about how 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: this wealthy, wealthy man managed to hook up some of 14 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: the most powerful men in the world with dozens of 15 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: underage girls at his homes in New York City, Florida, 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: and New Mexico, and most especially at his private island 17 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: in the US Virgin Islands. Is there a client list, 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: If so, who's on it? Epstein is silent. In twenty nineteen, 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: while awaiting trial, he died in prison, allegedly by suicide. 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,919 Speaker 1: So only one person can answer those questions, Gilaine Maxwell, 21 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: and so far she's not talking. Epstein insider attorney Alan 22 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: Dershowitz said this week, Gelaine is the Epstein Rosetta Stone. 23 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: She knows everything. She arranged every single trip with everybody. 24 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,559 Speaker 1: Now the talk is she may be called to testify 25 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: before Congress. Dershowitz thinks they should free her from prison 26 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: and offer her immunity to get her to talk. Right now. 27 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: Gileaene is serving twenty years in prison on a variety 28 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: of charges, including child sex trafficking. Through her relationship with Epstein, 29 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: she was instrumental in procuring numerous very young girls for 30 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: him and his pals. Business associates that she denies all that, 31 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: But where did she come from? And who's the other 32 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: powerful man in her life who also was involved in 33 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: a major scandal and also wound up dying under suspicious circumstances. 34 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: It was her father, Robert Maxwell. He was born in 35 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: Czechoslovakia in nineteen twenty three. After fleeing Nazi occupation during 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: World War II, he reinvented himself multiple times, first as 37 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: a war hero, later as an ambitious entrepreneur, a politician, 38 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: and ultimately as a media publishing mogul who socialized with 39 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: prime ministers, presidents and royalty. It's even possible he was 40 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: involved in espionage. In the nineteen sixties, he was a 41 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: member of Britain's Parliament, but his financial ambitions took over 42 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: and he began to build a business empire. By the 43 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and eighties, it was growing dramatically. Maxwell bought 44 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: up major newspaper groups like the companies that owned Britain's 45 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: Daily Mirror and New York's Daily News, and he bought 46 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: the massive McMillan publishing firm. Maxwell was a powerful, self 47 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: made man, at least that's what it looked like from 48 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: the outside, But inside it was a whole different story. 49 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: Beneath the facade of success were disturbing financial dealings, shady 50 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: business practices, and mounting debt. Maxwell was a master of deception. 51 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: He regularly used borrowed money to finance his empire, leveraging 52 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: all his businesses as collateral from massive loans from banks 53 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: around the globe. He owed money he couldn't possibly pay 54 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: back to banks and investment companies like Barclays, Golden sacks, 55 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: Leyman Brothers and the Swiss Bank corporation. It was kind 56 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: of similar to a Ponzi scheme. He borrowed from one 57 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: lender to pay off another, creating a continuous, unstable loop 58 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: of debt. How did he keep it going Well, he 59 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: had a powerful reputation, he was really connected, and he 60 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: had incredible charisma. He'd get loans from big players without 61 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: a whole lot of scrutiny because these lenders trusted his 62 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: public persona and supposed business sense. But it gets worse. 63 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: He started siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from his 64 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: employee pension funds, stealing directly from his own workers to 65 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:30,479 Speaker 1: keep up his lavish lifestyle and shure up his crumbling empire. 66 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: By nineteen ninety one, he was facing not only financial ruin, 67 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: but possible criminal charges. As evidence of his extensive fraud 68 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: began to come to the surface, investigators and financial institutions 69 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: were closing in unraveling his web. In November of nineteen 70 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: ninety one, Robert Maxwell took off for a cruise through 71 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: the Canary Islands on his lavish one hundred eighty foot 72 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:01,239 Speaker 1: super yacht, Lady Guilain, named after his daughter, and that's 73 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: when he mysteriously disappeared. Maxwell's body was later found floating 74 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,239 Speaker 1: in the Atlantic Ocean. He was sixty eight years old. 75 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: What happened, the official verdict was accidental drowning, but given 76 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: that his empire was imploding, there was lots of speculation 77 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: and several conspiracy theories about it. Some thought he'd committed 78 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: suicide rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. 79 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: Others thought he may have been murdered by people he'd defrauded, 80 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: or even by Israeli intelligence since he was heavily connected 81 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: with them the irony of the murder theory, while Jeffrey Epstein, 82 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: Partner's Lash former lover of Maxwell's daughter Delaine, was also 83 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: said to have committed suicide. Yet conspiracy types think he 84 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,720 Speaker 1: may have been murdered in his prison cell to keep 85 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: him from talking, and there are several minutes of footage 86 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: missing from security cameras near his cell that night. Anyway, 87 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,280 Speaker 1: once Robert Maxwell was dead, his horrifying financial scandal came 88 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: to light. Two of his sons took heat because they 89 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: worked closely with their father in his financial schemes. They 90 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: were finally acquitted after a year's long court battle in 91 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: which they claimed to be innocent dupes of their dead father. 92 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: They trusted him too, they said. Maxwell's daughter Gilaine, who 93 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: had worked for her father while leading a vibrant social 94 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: life in London, was never arrested, but all seven of 95 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: Maxwell's kids were sort of ruined by their dad's legacy. 96 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: Gilaine was just twenty nine years old. She was out 97 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: of a job, so she took off for New York City. 98 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: Pretty soon, she hooked up with Jeffrey Epstein and they 99 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: were a couple for several years. Although they remained partners 100 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: for the rest of Epstein's life. Insiders say Epstein referred 101 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: to her as his main girlfriend. She was his lover, 102 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 1: but she also ran his household, and since she was 103 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: a trained helicopter pilot, she flew him to his island 104 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: in the Caribbean. On top of that, she introduced Epstein 105 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: to some illustrious pals, like the Queen's son Prince Andrew, 106 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: who really got mixed up in the sex scandal. She 107 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: also began procuring the young girls at Epstein and his 108 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: pals needed. Was Gelaine's involvement with Epstein kind of a 109 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: tragic echo of her dad's legacy. It's sure as an 110 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: exonerator but the similarities are eerie. It's bizarre that the 111 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: two closest men in her life had the same reckless 112 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: ambitions and lack of a moral compass, and both died 113 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: under circumstances that'll probably never fully come to light. This 114 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: tale is all about the dangers of thoughtless greed, desire, 115 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: and deception, as well as the darker aspects of wealth, 116 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: power and family legacy. I guess we'll see if Gelaine 117 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: does eventually tell at least part of the Epstein story, 118 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: but it's pretty unlikely we'll ever find out exactly what 119 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: happened to her father, Robert Maxwell. Hope you like the 120 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. Please slever review and I would 121 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to 122 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: get new episodes delivered automatically. Also feel free to DM 123 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. 124 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. 125 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 126 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 127 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 128 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 129 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 130 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 131 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the 132 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.