The FBI Used a “Stingray” Device to Track Down Ghislaine Maxwell

Former Jeffrey Epstein ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on July 2, following a raid on her secluded mansion in New Hampshire – despite going to great lengths to conceal her whereabouts.

According to a new court document revealed by the Daily Beast, however, the FBI was able to track down the accused child sex-trafficker using a “stingray” device to track down her mobile phone.

Before the feds busted Ghislaine Maxwell, they tracked her to a New Hampshire hideaway using her cellphone data, according to a newly unsealed court filing.

The British socialite and accused accomplice of sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein had opened a mobile account under the name “G Max” and used it to communicate with phones belonging to her rumored husband Scott Borgerson, her sister Isabel, and one of her lawyers, Laura Menninger, the document states. -Daily Beast

The filing – an affidavit in support of a search warrant application, was filed by the FBI on July 1, 2020, the day before Maxwell was arrested at her Bradford mansion. She stands accused of grooming three girls as young as 14-years-old for Epstein in the mid-1990s as part of an international sex-trafficking operation that lasted for years. Maxwell faces trial this summer.

The affidavit also reveals an earlier attempt to locate Maxwell based on a New York search warrant to retrieve historical cell site data for the disgraced socialite’s cellphone account within one mile of her location, however in their application for the new warrant, the DOJ says they couldn’t locate her in New Hampshire.

“The FBI does not know Maxwell’s current location and accordingly requires the information sought in this application in order to locate and arrest Maxwell,” reads the filing.

The New Hampshire warrant allowed the FBI to “use an investigative device or devices capable of broadcasting signals that will be received by” Maxwell’s phone “or receiving signals from nearby cellular devices,” including Maxwell’s device.”

“Such a device may function in some respects like a cellular tower, except that it will not be connected to the cellular network and cannot be used by a cell phone to communicate with others,” the affidavit states, adding that the device would not intercept her phone’s calls, texts, and other electronic communications and data.

These details seem to indicate that the FBI used a “stingray” device, also known as an “IMSI catcher,” to nab Maxwell. The portable equipment, which can fit inside a briefcase, simulates a cell tower and forces mobile phones in the immediate vicinity to connect to it instead of the actual tower. Once it connects, the stingray captures the phone’s exact location and the registered user’s identifying information. –Daily Beast

According to the affidavit, Maxwell shares a joint bank account with her husband, tech CEO Scott Borgerson, and that her Amazon account sent him “multiple packages within approximately the last year.”

Given that it’s common knowledge that anyone’s cell phone can be tracked if a government is motivated enough, we suspect Maxwell simply thought she was untouchable.

In seeking release on bail – which has since been denied – Maxwell indicated that she had a net worth of approximately $22.5 million, all of which she was willing to pledge for her release.

Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission