

The philanthropic works of Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend never materialized. Now, she’s being sued by one of his victims.

By [Jacob Bernstein](https://www.nytimes.com/by/jacob-bernstein)

Aug. 14, 2019

In 2014, [Ghislaine Maxwell](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/nyregion/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-deposition.html) spoke at a Council on Foreign Relations event in Washington, D.C. She was there in her capacity as the founder of the TerraMar Project, an oceanic conservation group she started in 2012, according to a C.F.R. spokeswoman.

Update

The F.B.I. [arrested Ghislaine Maxwell](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/nyregion/ghislaine-maxwell-arrest-jeffrey-epstein.html) in New Hampshire

The C.F.R. is one of the world’s most prestigious nonprofit think tanks. Among its officers and directors then were [David Rockefeller](https://www.cfr.org/search?keyword=David%20%20Rockefeller), one of the modern era’s most revered philanthropists; [Colin Powell](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cfr/international/slot3_111504.html); and [Robert Rubin](https://www.cfr.org/expert/robert-e-rubin), the secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton.

The TerraMar Project was an organization with an opaque website and a founder who happened to be the ex-girlfriend of [Jeffrey Epstein](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/nyregion/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein.html), the mysterious money manager who — in addition to being one of the C.F.R.’s “[Chairman’s Circle” ](https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/CFR_annual_report_2006.pdf)[donors](https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/CFR_annual_report_2003.pdf) [for](https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/CFR_annual_report_1999.pdf) at least six years — had pleaded guilty [in 2008](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/business/01epstein.html) to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Mr. Epstein spent the next year in county jail, becoming a symbol of the superrich getting away with crimes that seemed likely to send ordinary people to prison for far longer.

Ms. Maxwell herself would be a party to confidential settlements with [at least two other people who said that they were victims of Mr. Epstein](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein.html) and that Ms. Maxwell was responsible for recruiting them.

**A correction was made on** 

Aug. 26, 2019

: 

An earlier version of a picture caption with this article, using information from a photo agency, misidentified the location where Ghislaine Maxwell was shown with the Gyalwang Drukpa. It was at her apartment, not at the Beacon Theater.

2019 Article : Whatever Happened to Ghislaine Maxwell’s Plan to Save the Oceans?