Ghislaine Maxwell hired the lawyer best known for helping to prosecute drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to get her off sex-trafficking and perjury charges.
The New York Post reported that the 58-year-old former socialite is being represented by Christian Everdell, who spent more than a decade serving as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Everdell’s biography notes how the Federal Drug Foundation awarded he and his team a “True American Hero Award” for investigating and apprehending El Chapo, the former head of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico.
Everdell’s former colleagues believe he may use his experience from his high-profile cases to get Maxwell to strike a plea deal.
“He will, of course, do what is in the best interests of his client, but no doubt he will be talking to her about the benefits of becoming a cooperating witness,” tweeted Jennifer Rodgers, who used to be his supervisor as a fellow federal Southern District of New York prosecutor.
Chris Everdell was a longtime SDNY AUSA (who I happened to supervise once upon a time). He will of course do what is in the best interests of his client, but no doubt he will be talking to her about the benefits of becoming a cooperating witness. https://t.co/be7tHRm8d7
— Jennifer Rodgers (@JenGRodgers) July 6, 2020
Maxwell is accused of recruiting underage girls for the late Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial for a sex-trafficking case.
Maxwell was moved from her jail cell in New Hampshire, where she was arrested, to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where she is awaiting trial. She is due in court for her first hearing on Friday.
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