Ghislaine Maxwell to Sell London Home to Pay Legal Fees

The house is on Kinnerton Street in London’s upmarket Belgravia district. One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, alleges that she was brought there in 2001 as a 17-year-old and forced to have sex with the U.K.’s Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew has disputed the encounter and said in a 2019 BBC interview that a photo of him and Ms. Giuffre allegedly taken at the home might have been faked.

The sale of the property, a short walk from Hyde Park, will soon be completed, according to Brian Basham, a spokesman for the Maxwell family. He declined to name the buyer or the sale price. Homes in the area of different sizes have sold for between £2.6 million and £8 million in the past two years, the equivalent of $3.6 million to $11.2 million, according to property records.

The sale ran into complications with Ms. Maxwell’s bank, Barclays BCS -0.51% PLC. The bank closed her account in February, the day after lawyers deposited £130,000, an initial payment from the buyer.

In a letter from the bank that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Barclays cited terms that forbid customers putting the bank in a position where it “might break a law, regulation, code or other duty.” The Maxwell family has found a way to complete the house sale even though the bank account has been closed, Mr. Basham said.

Barclays Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley counted Epstein as a client when he was an executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He made visits to Epstein at his private Caribbean island, the Journal has reported. U.K. regulators opened an investigation into how Mr. Staley characterized his relationship with the convicted sex offender to Barclays and how the British lender described it to the regulator.

A spokesman for the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority declined to comment on the investigation.

Mr. Staley has said his relationship with Epstein was professional and began in 2000 when he was head of JPMorgan’s private bank and the financier was a client. A major Barclays shareholder called last year for the bank to withdraw its support for Mr. Staley because of his links to Epstein.

Ms. Maxwell’s brother, Ian Maxwell, accused Barclays of closing her account to protect Mr. Staley.

“We have no idea what Staley got up to with Epstein, but whatever it was, it’s his problem and he should not be taking his problems out on my sister,” Mr. Maxwell said. “Staley is playing at Pontius Pilate with my sister’s life.”

A Barclays spokesman said the bank isn’t able to discuss customer accounts or confirm whether an individual is a customer. “As a matter of course, the Group CEO would not be involved in decisions to close accounts,” he said.

Federal prosecutors brought sex-trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, putting a spotlight on his relationships with high-powered politicians and business leaders.

While Epstein was in federal custody, a New York appeals court ordered unsealed dozens of documents in a civil lawsuit brought by Ms. Giuffre against Ms. Maxwell, making public for the first time some of the details of the alleged abuse. In a deposition from that case, Ms. Maxwell described herself as Epstein’s girlfriend at times, and as his property manager and aide. Epstein died in jail in August 2019.

Ms. Maxwell’s criminal trial in Manhattan federal court is scheduled to begin in July.

Her lawyers have filed three motions asking for Ms. Maxwell to be released on bail, each time proposing more significant and specific bail packages, and each opposed by federal prosecutors. Her third request, filed in February, proposes that the court appoint a monitor for a new account to hold nearly all of her cash and liquid assets, “including any proceeds that result from the pending sale of Ms. Maxwell’s London house.”

The motion awaits a ruling by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan. In a response filed this week federal prosecutors urged the judge to reject the bail package, saying that the proposal doesn’t place meaningful restraints on her assets, including the London home.

In December, Judge Nathan denied Ms. Maxwell’s previous request, citing Ms. Maxwell’s “clear risk of flight” and saying she “has not been fully candid about her financial situation.”

Write to Simon Clark at [email protected] and Rebecca Davis O’Brien at [email protected]