Ghislaine Maxwell revealed to be married - but who is her secret spouse?

Ghislaine Maxwell is secretly married but will not reveal the identity of her spouse, a New York court has heard.

Assistant US attorney Alison Moe revealed the British socialite’s marital status during a bail hearing at which the alleged former madame to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was described as a “flight risk” and sentenced to remain in custody.

Maxwell is facing up to 35 years in prison if found guilty of charges relating to allegations that she recruited teenage girls for the late billionaire financier to sexually abuse.

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Sky News reports that the existence of her mystery spouse came to light while Moe “was trying to prove to the judge that Maxwell had not been honest about her finances”.

“In addition to failing to describe in any way the absence of proposed cosigners of a bond, the defendant also makes no mention whatsoever about the financial circumstances or assets of her spouse, whose identity she declined to provide to Pretrial Services,” the attorney told the hearing, which Maxwell attended via video link.

The revelation has triggered widespread speculation about who Maxwell, a former girlfriend of Epstein, could be hiding from US law enforcement.

The court also heard that an estate agent had told the FBI that Maxwell had toured her $1m (£800,000) New Hampshire home - where she was arrested earlier this month - with an unknown man in November 2019.

The couple had introduced themselves as Scott and Janet Marshall, but the estate agent later recognised Maxwell after seeing a photo of her on the news.

The man “told her he was retired from the British military and was currently working on a book”, Moe said.

As Tatler notes, commentators are “speculating that he might be her secret husband”.

“There was no previous suggestions that Maxwell was married,” the magazine adds.

Last summer, the Daily Mail tracked down Maxwell to Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts, where she was living at a £1.6m home owned “by her American toyboy lover Scott Borgerson”.

The newspaper says it is “unclear” if the 44-year-old multimillionaire shipping entrepreneur is the man who toured the New Hampshire property with her.