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Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer has claimed her client’s treatment in a New York jail “rivals scenes of Hannibal Lecter’s incarceration in the movie Silence of the Lambs, despite the absence of the cage and plastic face guard”.

In a letter to a federal judge, Bobbi C. Sternheim yet again requested bail for Ms Maxwell.

Five previous bail applications have been rejected. The government argues Ms Maxwell is a flight risk due to her three nationalities and access to considerable wealth.

Ms Sternheim wrote that her client “suffers from headaches and back pain and general physical weakness” and claims that during searches she has been “touched in a sexually inappropriate manner by corrections officers on multiple occasions”.

In the seven page letter, Bobbi Sternheim said: “Many of the officers are openly hostile toward her and have mentioned having read the press and seen various television shows which amplify their hostility.”

Sir Anthony Hopkins as serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs
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Sir Anthony Hopkins as serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs

Ms Sterneheim also claimed that an investigation is underway within the US Marshall Service, which oversees court security, after a staff member was “verbally threatening” and allegedly told Ms Maxwell: “You think you are special. You are not special. Remember you are in custody and the judge doesn’t care about you.”

Bobbi Sternheim added that Ms Maxwell’s prison conditions are “reprehensible and utterly inappropriate for a woman on the cusp of turning 60 with no criminal record or history of violence” and that if her detention continues “it is highly likely that she will not have the stamina to assist in her defence and endure the physical demands of a five-day per week, multi-week court proceedings”.

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Ms Maxwell’s lawyers have previously claimed their client is subjected to “flashlight checks” in her cell every 15 minutes, and that she has lost hair and 15 pounds in weight during her 16 months in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

They argue she is treated differently due to intense criticism following the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein in jail in 2019.

A photo of Ghislaine Maxwell with a 'black eye' was released by her lawyer
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A photo of Ghislaine Maxwell with a ‘black eye’ was released by her lawyer

In a pre-trial hearing on Monday, Ms Sternheim told a federal court that Ghislaine Maxwell was forced to crawl “on her hands and knees” while wearing leg shackles to get into a prison van.

She said Ms Maxwell was woken at 3.45am and arrived at the courthouse at 5.38am but was prevented from looking at her legal materials. She was offered “very little food” and given no utensil to eat it with.

In April, Ms Maxwell’s lawyers released an image which appeared to show her with a black eye.

Ian Maxwell, her brother, has told Sky News: “I don’t see Ghislaine administering a black eye to herself… I think she has suffered some occasional physical abuse at the hands of her guards. Yes.”

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‘I don’t see her administering black eye to herself’

The British socialite, and former girlfriend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, which she denies. She is accused of procuring teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. The opening arguments of Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial are expected to begin on 29 November.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: Sky UK
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Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: Sky UK

The US Marshall Service and the US Federal Bureau of Prisons have been contacted for comment.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons has previously said: “The BOP takes allegations of staff misconduct seriously and consistent with national policy, refers all allegations for investigation, if warranted.”

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Trump wants to emulate Putin and govern US in ‘a similar fashion’, his former national security adviser says

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Trump wants to emulate Putin and govern US in 'a similar fashion', his former national security adviser says

Donald Trump wants to emulate Vladimir Putin and “govern his own country in a similar fashion”, his former national security adviser has said.

Fiona Hill told Sky News’ The World with Yalda Hakim that the US and Russian presidents both share the same view of the world as being “divided up among three major powers; Russia, the US and China, with very clear spheres of influence”.

She said the two leaders “have shockingly similar world views”.

Ukraine war latest: Trump hits out at Zelenskyy

Pic: Reuters
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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Pic: Reuters

“This is the first time we’ve had a US president who wants to emulate the Russian leader in some way, who wants to create a hyper-personalised presidency, who wants to basically govern his own country in a very similar fashion, very top down without any checks and balances,” she said.

Ms Hill added Mr Trump wants to “regularise, normalise and reset” the relationship between the US and Russia.

“That’s very clear, it’s been clear since the first presidency of Trump,” she said.

“He’s always wanted to sit down with Vladimir Putin and sort out all of the difficulties in the bilateral relationship, everything from nuclear issues and nuclear arms reduction – there’s all kinds of economic and business deals that Trump himself and his immediate circle are very interested in.

“That was not the direction of travel of other US presidents. So in actual fact there’s probably more chance under Trump of a close relationship between the US and Putin.”

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Ms Hill said Mr Trump has an interest in forging a “personal relationship” beyond what he already has with Mr Putin.

“He wants to extricate the United States from its support for Ukraine, he’s said that very clearly,” she said.

“He also wants to pull back from the underpinning of European security and get the Europeans to pick up not just support for Ukraine, but also much more involvement and much more in-depth payment for all of their own security, that’s also very clear.

“So there is a strategic perspective there and I think part of the US strategy and the Trump administration strategy is to push the Europeans to go off essentially on their owns in terms of framing what they want in European security and making it very clear to the Ukrainians that they can’t expect much more future support from the United States.”

It comes as Mr Trump claimed a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is “very close”.

Hours after US secretary of state Marco Rubio withdrew from high-level talks in London aimed at ending the conflict, the American president heaped pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “get it done”.

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Depth of Trump’s frustration revealed in comments on Zelenskyy – and there was one notable absence in his Truth Social post

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Depth of Trump's frustration revealed in comments on Zelenskyy - and there was one notable absence in his Truth Social post

The White House is desperate for a breakthrough.

Donald Trump vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of assuming office.

This is day 94 of his second presidency.

Ukraine war latest: ‘We are very close to deal’, Trump claims

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Ukraine war Q&A: Could Trump walk away?

Last Friday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that America was ready to “move on” if there wasn’t a deal soon.

If that comment, reinforced by President Trump, was designed to put pressure on Ukraine, it didn’t have the desired effect.

That became clear when Rubio pulled out of peace negotiations in London, a summit downgraded to technical talks.

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It’s not that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won’t back down, it’s that he can’t.

The US plan to recognise Russia‘s claim to Ukrainian territory it has seized effectively legitimises Moscow’s decision to invade.

To concede that would be a breach of Ukraine’s constitution.

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Ukraine has not hinted at recognising Crimea as Russian ‘for even a day’

The country’s economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko says they’re “ready to negotiate, not ready to surrender”.

US vice president JD Vance has now stepped into Marco Rubio’s shoes, warning that America will “walk away” if there isn’t a “yes” from both sides.

But President Trump is only talking about one side: Ukraine.

The absence of any reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his lengthy post online will not have gone unnoticed.

He claimed no one was asking Zelenskyy to recognise Crimea as Russian, but contradicted that by asking why Ukraine hadn’t fought for Crimea 11 years ago.

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President Trump blamed the loss of Crimea on one of his predecessors, his reference to “President Barack Hussein Obama” revealing the depth of his frustration.

He claims he is “very close” to a deal, but the signals from Washington, London, Moscow and Kyiv suggest otherwise.

Right now, it feels like he’s much closer to throwing in the towel and throwing Zelenskyy under the bus. Again.

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Trade war: Stock markets rally as Trump rows back on Fed and China threats

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Trade war: Stock markets rally as Trump rows back on Fed and China threats

Global stock markets and the dollar have rallied on hopes of two significant climbdowns by the Trump administration on issues blamed for a slump in values.

Remarks by the US Treasury secretary on punitive tariffs against China lifted the mood on Wall Street initially before the president himself moved to calm market trade war worries and also end speculation he could fire the head of the country’s central bank.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-focused Nasdaq Composite both ended Tuesday trading 2.7% up, erasing losses of the previous day.

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Asian markets later followed that lead, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gaining 2.4%.

European indices also saw a strong opening, with the FTSE 100 up by more than 1.2%. It was led higher by Asia-focused banks HSBC and Standard Chartered.

US futures suggested Wall Street would pick up where it left off, with further strong gains expected.

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The US dollar – badly hit by trade war implications in recent weeks – was at least a cent higher than a day earlier against many rival currencies including the pound.

The rally gathered steam on Tuesday evening when US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told a private JPMorgan event that he expected a “de-escalation” in the spiralling spat with China.

It’s a fight that has seen US tariffs hit 145% and China responding with duties of 125%.

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Trump: Tariffs are making US ‘rich’

According to a transcript obtained by the Associated Press news agency, he told the audience: “Neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable”, but he added that peace talks were yet to start in earnest and could take time to bear fruit.

His boss later struck a similar tone in remarks to reporters when he said the final tariff rate with China would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.

“It won’t be that high, not going to be that high,” Mr Trump said, adding: “We’re doing fine with China… we’re going to live together very happily and ideally work together.”

He gave no hint that he plans to ease wider tariffs on trading partners, including the UK which is currently subject to 25% tariffs on car, steel and aluminium imports and a wider 10% “baseline” tariff.

But the president did row back on an apparent threat, made last week, to sack the chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell in revenge for the US central bank holding off on interest rate cuts that could provide some stimulus to the tariff-hit economy.

Mr Powell has said the Trump administration’s protectionist policies have created uncertainty over growth and the threat of higher inflation.

The president has dismissed those arguments but told reporters: “I have no intention of firing him”.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell speaks at the DealBook Summit in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell was nominated for the role by Donald Trump in 2017. File pic: AP

His comments were widely seen as an attempt to calm financial market concerns that the independence of the country’s central bank was under threat.

Analysts cautioned there was a long way to go to recover values seen before the start of the trade war, with the Nasdaq remaining almost 16% down in the year to date alone.

US government borrowing costs also remain elevated.

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What IMF said about the UK economy

Not helping sentiment were big downgrades to global growth forecasts by the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.

Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, said of the investor mood: “Participants understandably remain jittery, not only as the haven value of both Treasuries and the USD (US dollar) continue to be called into question, but also as a huge degree of trade uncertainty continues to linger.

“As a reminder, the whole concept of ’90 deals in 90 days’ is currently running at ‘0 deals in 14 days’ which, to be frank, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.”

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