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Jeffrey Epstein investigators want to speak to a British aristocrat who made 32 flights on the pedophile’s ‘Lolita Express’ plane as the inquiry continues after the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, it has been claimed.
Sources told the Daily Beast that investigators want to contact former Epstein associate Clare Hazell, who became the Countess of Iveagh when she married into the Guinness brewing family in 2001.
The Countess who works as an interior designer lives with her husband Edward Guinness at Elveden Estate in Suffolk with their son.
Flight logs show her making 32 trips on Epstein’s Boeing 727 between 1998 and 2000, including trips to his luxury homes in New York, Florida and the Caribbean.
It is not suggested that the Countess is suspected of any crime, but lawyers for Epstein’s victims are already thought to have sought her out as a possible witness.
The Countess’s contact details were listed in Epstein’s infamous ‘little black book’ under her married name, Clare Hazell-Iveagh.
According to flight logs, Epstein accompanied her on all but one of the trips on board the plane.
Maxwell, who was yesterday arrested in New Hampshire and accused of procuring underage girls for Epstein, was also a passenger on some of the flights.
The plane was dubbed the ‘Lolita Express’ because it was used to ferry young girls to Epstein’s private Caribbean island or his ranch in New Mexico.
Epstein is also known to have flown with former president Bill Clinton on board the plane, and Maxwell was a guest at his daughter Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010.
Other passengers on the plane included Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer who denies allegations from Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked to him by Epstein.
Ms Hazell worked as an interior designer and the nature of her connection to Epstein is not fully clear, but a friend said that she regarded him as a financial backer.
Ms Hazell was studying at Ohio State University in the 1990s and reportedly had a modelling agency and an apartment in Columbus, Ohio.
The friend described her as being at Epstein’s ‘beck and call’, saying how mutual plans would be cancelled immediately if she was needed by Epstein and Maxwell.
They also recalled how Ms Hazell had spoken of going on vacation with her boyfriend at Epstein’s Caribbean property.
One of Epstein’s accusers, Maria Farmer, recalled that Ms Hazell ‘liked having nice drinks, piles of cash and nice outfits’.
Ms Hazell became a Countess when she married the Earl of Iveagh, Arthur Edward Rory Guinness, in 2001, and gave birth to an heir called Arthur in 2003.
Reports at the time said the Earl was the 30th-richest man in Britain with a £375million ($470million) fortune.
The couple are the owners of the Elveden Estate in East Anglia, which has been in the Guinness family since the late 19th century.
Edward Cecil Guinness bought the land in 1894 and the current Earl describes it as a ‘world-class producer and purveyor of local and regional food excellence’.
MailOnline has approached the Countess for comment about the Epstein probe, which remains ongoing despite the charges announced against Maxwell yesterday.
A grand jury returned a sealed, six-count indictment against Maxwell on June 29, almost a year after Epstein was charged.
The indictment alleges:
- Maxwell groomed three unnamed girls, all under the age of 18, in London, New York and Florida, and New Mexico between 1994 and 1997
- She befriended them by taking them to the movies or on shopping sprees and ‘normalized’ abusive behavior by getting undressed in front of them herself
- She encouraged them to travel to meet Epstein and engage in sex acts with them and him like ‘group massage sex’ in Epstein’s homes
- Her introduction of them to him resulted in him abusing them when she was not present
- She lied in 2016 depositions while being sued by Virginia Giuffre Roberts that she’d never groomed or had sex with underage girls herself
Maxwell, who has yet to enter a plea, faces 35 years in prison if convicted. She has previously denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
The indictment reads in part: ‘Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s access to minor victims knowing that he had a sexual preference for underage girls and that he intended to engage in sexual activity with those victims’.
