Ghislaine Maxwell appears to be lurching from one catastrophe to the next with reports that her appeal against her 20-year jail sentence for sex trafficking will collapse after her estranged husband has refused to pay her legal fees. Scott Borgerson apparently controls her fortune after she transferred £20 million into a trust fund before her 2020 arrest in. Her appeal must be filed by the end of January.
He broke off their relationship by phone, did not visit her in jail and refused to attend her trial. Friends have suggested he is trying to force Maxwell to improve his payoff in any divorce settlement. “Her brothers were astonished to find out that not only was she married, but she had made all her money over to Scott,” a source close to the family said.
Two sets of lawyers have indicated they are pulling out.
Her father Robert Maxwell, 10 June 1923, was a monster – Mars Pluto in Cancer square Saturn. And Epstein, 20 January 1953, was a different kind of awful – Mars Venus in Pisces trine Uranus with a Sun square Saturn Neptune. Both had indulgent Jupiters in Scorpio and Taurus respectively which would feed her Leo Moon’s need for a grandiose lifestyle. But she doesn’t seem to have gained any insight along the way.
She does have an 8th house Sun, Mars, Mercury in Capricorn so her life will have been a series of dramatic events, ferocious compulsions driving her into situations over which she had little understanding. Plus her Capricorn planets are trine a tumultuous 4th house Uranus Pluto in Virgo. Which is not to exonerate her from responsibility for her actions and decisions but she was never going to have a settled suburban life or indeed to be too self-aware. On top of all that, her flamboyant Leo Moon opposes a ‘spoilt’, arrogant Jupiter on her Midheaven squaring a head-in-the-clouds, evasive Neptune.
Setting the scene for an almost gothic Greek tragedy.
Transiting Neptune is moving to square her Venus this year, then square her Mars (along with tr Saturn) by 2025 and Sun, Mercury following, so it will be a devastating and disappointing time where her morale (and money) are concerned. Indeed it will be keyed up by her Solar Arc Pluto conjunct her Neptune within the next year which will be disorienting. Plus she has an emotionally upsetting tr Uranus square her Moon mid January 2023 for two weeks.
Scott Borgerson’s date of birth is only mentioned on one net site so may be iffy. But if accurate at 3 September 1975, it makes him a Sun Virgo square Neptune opposition Mars. On this chart he has a flashy Leo Moon like Ghislaine Maxwell. His Sun is conjunct her Pluto and his Pluto is square her Sun, Mercury, Mars – so a spider’s web of control and compulsions. The relationship chart (on this birth date for him) has a cool Venus opposition Saturn and, more pointedly, a power-struggling, bitter Pluto opposition Mars Jupiter, sextile/trine a slippery Neptune Mercury. If his birth date is sound, it was never going to end well.
Add On: Born on the same day with an almost identical chart is Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian politician held hostage in the jungle by Farc guerrillas for six and a half years. One of the American contractors held with her described her behaviour while a captive as selfish, ‘controlling and manipulative’ as was her belief she deserved better treatment than the other captives owing to her political and social standing. They claimed she took more than her fair share of scarce food, clothing, and personal space. One said, “I can get over just about anything, but I don’t know about Ingrid. Forgive? Yes. Move on? Yes. Respect? No.” Others described her as ‘courageous’ and ’caring.’ In her own memoir she talks of the ordeal turning the captors against one another.
Born 25 December 1961 2.15pm Bogota, Colombia, she came from a well-to-do, politically prominent family.
She has the same confident Jupiter Midheaven opposition a 4th house Leo Moon square Neptune. And more significantly Sun Mars in Capricorn in her 8th leading to a dramatic, event-filled life with little self-awareness. A different kind of trapped to Maxwell but an intriguing parallel.
Tr Neptune was exactly conjunct her Jupiter when she was captured.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/18/ingrid-betancourt-i-still-have-nightmares
Interesting – those 8th house planets (esp the Sun) could also explain a lifelong reliance on shared assets – first her father, then Epstein – to maintain her lifestyle and defining her sense of self. I don’t know that she ever actually worked, unless procuring to meet Epstein’s and hers’ 8th house needs counts as ‘work’.
So the $20 million to her husband could be another facet of this 8th house dominance, believing, once again, that it would somehow save her. (The fortune itself was surely some kind of inheritance/donation).
She never had any control over her money, and apparently never really tried.
I don’t understand what the hoopla is about.
Maxwell was quietly moved from that hellish prison in NY to a nice quiet camp in Florida where she jumped the line and got a job in the ‘prison’ library.
She will serve some years but it won’t be anywhere close to the 20 that she was sentenced to because she knows too much about too many prominent men.
The parallels with Betancourt are interesting. She would have had Pluto transitting her 8th during the years of captivity and reading her account, it seems she was asking some of the deeper, fundamental questions that would bring.
Those with natal Venus opp. Saturn so often find partners who are considerably older than them. I’ve seen it a number of times among friends and family.
DavidW— Hello. My Venus is at 27 Scorpio/Saturn is at 2 Taurus. First husband was 17 years older. Second husband is 15 years older. Think it’s because Saturn pressurizes Venus, in a sense?
I think it is perhaps that the romantic impulse (Venus) looks to someone more stable, sober and reassuring (Saturn).
Fascinating! That matches me to a “T.”
Also, had a tough childhood so I was def looking for a man more stable and more established than any of my male peers.
I needed someone ready-made. Thanks for this insight! Appreciated.
I, too have Venus opp Saturn. As a child, I always felt old. Terribly aware of how difficult life can be. Although I loved fun and play, I also found my young friends to be frivolous… in how they saw the world and, especially as a teenager, how they played out their relationships. It all seemed so silly!
I certainly have had relationships with older men. But now? My husband is no that much older. However, he IS a solid Capricorn! and experienced the death of his deeply loved first wife when she was young. So he also brings a depth of life experience that resonates with me.
So, yes.. maybe an older partner.
Also, Venus Saturn aspect might draw one to a person who is Saturnian wise from life’s hardships.
Years ago I read in Liz Greene’s Saturn book that it can also show an inclination towards prostitution!… a “crafting of love”. I was not surprised to learn that. Darkly, this played out with GM for sure in her Madam role at procuring young women.
Or!!…. it seems to also be an aspect that can “find a good deal”….
a desire for Beauty and luxury obtained in a certain “make a deal” way.
Interesting comparing having a Venus Saturn connection in a natal chart.. and seeing this connection in a composite.
just before I head off to bed I checked the composite of GM with Jeffrey Epstein in an earlier post.
Venus opp Uranus – square Saturn.
that makes me squirm just looking at those aspects…. with her and him the 2 people.
My Pluto in the 8th has always been aware of just how dark any of us can go.
And once that door is opened, it’s not easy to close.
I have the trine and my husband is 14 years older. My grandmother had the opposition and was 22 years younger than my grandfather.
“her flamboyant Leo Moon opposes a ‘spoilt’, arrogant Jupiter on her Midheaven squaring a head-in-the-clouds, evasive Neptune.”
Thanks Marjorie. I’m amazed by GM’s decision to give financial control of such a large sum of money to her husband. It seems she was poorly advised, or ignored advice – it is hard to imagine lawyers thinking this was a wise choice. But perhaps that Neptune in financial Scorpio has something to do with this – muddling up her Moon/Jupiter inflated emotions? Her natal t-square seems pretty sensitive. The Moon/Jupiter/Neptune could also suggest misplaced Leo loyalty – loyalty to her father, and Epstein, seems to have driven her actions too.
She met Scott Borgerson in Iceland in 2013. Tr Saturn in Scorpio conjuncted her Neptune that year, resonating through the natal t-square. Tr Uranus in Aries moved from squaring her Mercury, to trining her Leo Moon, not quite exact. When they married in 2016, Saturn was in her 7th house of marriage. It trined her Moon that year, while Uranus in Aries moved towards trining her Venus – an indicator of an unusual, short-lived, or unconventional union?
Saturn, her ruling planet, has been opposing her Moon this year, with Uranus squaring it. Uranus rules her MC, as does Saturn if you include the traditional rulerships.
I have little sympathy for her sickening life choices. Yet, considering her intense and dark relationship with her overwhelming father, I can see how she has never been able to overcome the damage that did when she was a child. Possibly it was too painful to contemplate analysing it in therapy? A gothic tale, as you say.
I suspect she was between a rock and a hard place with her money. If she kept it, she gets sued by the victims and loses it. Giving it to her husband seemed the best option. After all they were a team and “in love”. Except with Capricorn on her 8th house cusp, she will likely have always seen love as being about the material stuff, nothing deeper.
Seems to me she made the same mistake with Scott she made with Epstein – thinking they actually cared about her. Just like Virginia and the other girls thought she cared about their best interests.
(As an aside, I thought her brothers had originally agreed to stump up for her legal bill. But then they stopped paying it leaving the lawyers complaining about $1.5m outstanding. Again she was duplicitous in all of this)
Yes, I can see that GD – as a way of keeping the money ‘safe’. I’d like to see some forensic accounting at some point though. Where did the money come from? Was any of it from Robert Maxwell? Or all from Epstein for services rendered? I also wonder whether there’s other money hidden away elsewhere. It would not be surprising. I’ve always thought there could be a link between Epstein’s role as an ‘investment advisor’ for the wealthy, and Robert Maxwell.
And re trusting Scott and Epstein – yes, I think this is partly the Leo Moon and it’s stubborn t square. With Neptune there’s delusional loyalty, and probably compulsion too. With Jupiter involved, potentially that’s huge. She would have very damaged boundaries in any case, thanks to her childhood. That isn’t in any way an excuse, but goes some way towards explaining the dark path she chose as an adult. And our choices aren’t always conscious ones.
Her chart strikes me as potentially being a perfect trophy wife for someone like Epstein. The Gemini Ascendant and Jupiter Aqua on the MC would come across as the perfect socialite with all the Capricorn planets following the societal niceties.
And with Capricorn 8th, I suspect she was happy to acquire girls for him so she didn’t have to get sexually involved herself; the return being that he gave her the material lifestyle she wanted. I’m sure there were others along the way who kept her in the lifestyle she was accustomed to – her Cap-Leo planets would be high maintenance but independent enough to walk. £20 million is no small amount to acquire even if you’re getting others to pay all the bills.
Hadn’t really noticed the preponderance of 4th-8th planets. That’s a lot of baggage.