Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal is in jeopardy after her estranged husband refuses to pay her $2 million legal bill
- Ghislaine Maxwell’s estranged husband could jeopardize her appeal
- Scott Borgerson, 46, is accused of failing to pay $900,000 in legal bills.
- He is also accused of failing to provide $1 million to challenge her conviction
- Maxwell’s friends fear that he may be delaying their divorce and cash in on her
Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal against her 20-year prison sentence for sexual assault is a sham – because her estranged husband refuses to pay her lawyers.
Scott Borgerson, 46, who married Maxwell, 60, in secret in 2016, controlled her fortune after transferring £20million to a trust fund before her arrest in 2020.
But Borgerson ended the relationship with Maxwell during a phone call at a New York prison where she was awaiting trial.
Now he is accused of failing to pay her defense team a $900,000 legal bill and provide the $1 million needed to challenge the convictions.
Until the cash is transferred, her legal team is unlikely to meet the January deadline, leaving her likely to die in prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell pictured with her now estranged husband Scott Borgerson at an NGO event. Maxwell’s friends now fear that claims that her husband is refusing to pay legal costs could jeopardize her bid to appeal.
Maxwell’s friends fear that he is delaying their divorce and gives her access to money as a negotiating ploy.
‘He thinks she’ll pay him most if he pulls it off,’ said one. ‘She’s in jail… she can’t do much from there.’
But a legal source said: ‘Maxwell doesn’t believe what his lawyers are telling him.’
Maxwell and Borgerson met in Iceland in 2013.
Her relationship with San Diego billionaire Ted Waite had fallen apart, and friends say she was insecure. Borgerson was still married to his first wife, Rebecca, who is the mother of his young son and daughter.
The couple married three years later.
But in 2019, after her friend Jeffrey Epstein was found hanging in his cell while awaiting trial for sexual assault, Maxwell went from house to house in hiding.
Few people knew she and Borgerson were married until it was referenced by prosecutors in the 2020 lawsuit.
‘Her brothers were shocked to learn that not only was she married, but she had given all her money to Scott,’ said a source close to the family.
He never met her in a New York prison, according to friends, and failed to attend any of the trials.
The Colorado law firm Huddon, Morgan & Foreman, which acted for Maxwell in the trial, has filed a lawsuit against her and brother Kevin for about $900,000.
Court documents show she received millions of dollars from Epstein and sold her New York home for $15 million.
Borgerson dismissed the claims as ‘fake news’. He pointed to Huddon’s legal testimony that he ‘expressed cooperation, transparency and honesty’ in the discussions.
