Ghislaine Maxwells five-story UES townhome, once used for lavish parties, sells for $16.5M

The Manhattan townhouse where Ghislaine Maxwell once hosted champagne-soaked dinner parties and charity galas for New York’s elite has quietly sold for $16.5 million.The five-story Beaux-Arts limestone and brick residence on 116 E 65th Street, where the former socialite lived for roughly 16 years before her 2020 arrest, traded hands Tuesday, according to property records.An LLC that picked up the property in 2022 for $16 million sold it to a trust, according to Mansion Global and the listing was handled by Sabrina Saltiel of Douglas Elliman.Neither party responded to The Post’s request for comment.Built in 1910 and recently renovated, the 20-foot-wide, roughly 7,000-square-foot residence spans five floors and includes an elevator connecting the first through fourth levels.A marble fireplace encompasses the entry foyer, as the living room allows for fresh air thanks to its twin Juliet balconies.
The ritzy home’s dining room overlooks a private garden and is complete with a custom kitchen and a solarium.The primary suite occupies an entire floor, while a finished basement holds a media room, recreation space, laundry and storage.The home sits on a tree-lined stretch of the Upper East Side that once counted Bill Cosby and Rudy Giuliani among its neighbors and is just blocks from Jeffrey Epstein’s own former townhouse.Maxwell, now 64, is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her role in Epstein’s decade-long sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.The home came into Maxwell’s possession in 2000, when a lawyer for Epstein transferred it to her.
During her trial, one victim testified that Maxwell told her Epstein had obtained it for her.During her tenure, Maxwell used the townhouse as a backdrop for her social ambitions, hosting events attended by the president and first lady of Iceland, Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.and actress Kelly Rutherford, among others.Maxwell’s father, Br...