Ghislaine Maxwell sells mews house in Belgravia – for £1.75m

Ghislaine Maxwell has sold the London home where Prince Andrew allegedly had sex with his accuser.

The Mail on Sunday has learned the British socialite’s mews house in Belgravia was bought by a property developer for £1.75 million.

It is said to be where the Duke of York was photographed with his arm around the bare waist of then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts, one of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, now known as Virginia Giuffre.

Last week Ms Giuffre filed a bombshell lawsuit in a US court claiming Andrew had sexually abused her when she was 17.

She alleges she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times – once at the Belgravia address in 2001 – on the orders of Epstein, Ms Maxwell’s former boyfriend.

Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he has never even met Ms Giuffre, now a mother-of-three living in Australia.

Ms Maxwell, 59, sold the house, a short walk from Hyde Park, to fund legal fees for her own court battle in the States. She remains in a New York jail facing allegations she procured girls for the disgraced financier, which she denies. Her spokesman said she would be sad about the sale because the house – which he called her London ‘refuge’ – held happy memories.

Land Registry documents show it was bought by Hampshire-based property developer Stuart Robinson. Disgraced solicitor Malcolm Grumbridge’s name also appears in the documents.

A long-time friend of the Maxwell family, he was granted power of attorney by the socialite several months before the sale.

Earlier this month it was revealed Mr Grumbridge, who agreed to quit the legal profession last year after admitting ‘reckless’ conduct, set up multiple companies for the Maxwell family from a health club in Chiswick, West London. Many of the businesses showed little or no trading activity. Several are linked to Ms Maxwell’s brothers Kevin and Ian.

Mr Grumbridge agreed to have his name removed from the roll of solicitors in December after admitting failings, including breaches of anti-money-laundering and terrorism-financing rules.

The house sale reportedly ran into complications with Ms Maxwell’s bank after it closed her account in February, the day after lawyers deposited £130,000 as an initial payment from the buyer.

Ms Maxwell’s family has insisted she is innocent of all charges, branding the US legal system ‘bizarre and cruel’.

Ian Maxwell said his sister was being subjected to ‘brutal and degrading’ treatment and called for her release from jail while she awaited trial on child sex trafficking charges.

‘On evidence that can be shown to be false, given just a little exploration and digging, Ghislaine has been accused of being a procurer and a heartless woman and far more beside,’ said Mr Maxwell. ‘In fact, she is none of these things.’

Last month, reports surfaced that Ms Maxwell had been ‘physically abused’ by prison guards, was losing her hair and was ‘withering to a shell of her former self’.

There have been repeated attempts to get her released on bail, with most revolving around claims of mistreatment at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.

Court documents allege that Ms Maxwell ordered a ‘room full of underage girls’ to dance, sexually, in front of Epstein.

It was alleged that 100 ‘massage therapists’ had visited Epstein’s mansion while Ms Maxwell was present and that she stole a 15-year-old’s passport when the girl refused to have sex with him.

Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019, having killed himself after being charged with sex trafficking

Ms Maxwell denies helping to recruit and groom girls for sex with Epstein.