Disgraced former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is officially due to face trial next week, with her brother Ian raising doubts as to whether his sister will actually get a fair trial

Maxwell has been accused of trafficking minors for her former lover, Jeffery Epstein and has been in a New York jail since her arrest back in July 2020, where she pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Ian Maxwell believes his sister is relieved that the hearing is finally starting after being held in isolation for over 500 days, but fears the media interest in his sister’s case will jeopardise any chance of a fair trial.

Ian says the media reporting “has the potential to poison the jury pool at some level if they are only hearing one side of the story and not the other”.

One of Maxwell’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre is alleging that she was recruited by Ghislaine 20-years-ago whilst working at former President Donald Trump’s estate “for the purpose of being trafficked”.

Giuffre says “Ghislaine Maxwell is the one who abused her on a regular basis” and “trained her as a sex slave”.

But Ian Maxwell insists that his sister should stand in court as he says “there’s been an awful lot of talking by everybody for the last few years and the voice of Ghislaine has never been heard”.