Ghislaine Maxwell is no stranger to publicity or disgrace thanks to her father. Born in France on Christmas Day in 1961, she speaks four languages and is a citizen of France, Britain and the United States.

Her introduction to society as the daughter of Robert Maxwell — the owner of the Mirror Group Newspapers, former Labour MP and fraudster — was perhaps always set to not end well, given his colourful life and crooked ways.

Ghislaine Maxwell lived a life of extreme privilege. She grew up in a 53-room mansion, owned a private helicopter, had a yacht named after her and acquired many friends in high places.

In 1991, her father's body was found in the Atlantic Ocean, where he had been sailing his yacht, Lady Ghislaine. He was presumed to have fallen overboard while urinating naked but, with no witnesses, rumours of suicide and murder circulated.

Maxwell believed her father was murdered, according to a 1997 interview. His death exposed the tycoon's massive embezzlement of his companies' pension funds, exposing the family to bankruptcy and charges of fraud of which they were eventually acquitted.

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It was also the year of Maxwell's move from Britain to the US where she became Epstein's associate, first as his girlfriend and increasingly as his "fixer". Although her family was disgraced, she maintained her presence in the social circle and remained friends with the rich and powerful, including her most famous connection — Prince Andrew whom she met at Oxford where she grew up.

What did she do?

Maxwell was arrested at a luxury property in New Hampshire last week. She had been in hiding since Epstein's arrest for sex trafficking. He was found hanged in his cell in August before he could face trial. Three women allege Maxwell recruited and groomed them to be sexually abused by Epstein. One alleges she was 14 at the time when the abuse started and that it occurred between 1994 and 1997.

According to court papers, the abuse took place at private residences in Palm Beach, Santa Fe and London. US prosecutors say that, in some instances, Maxwell participated in the abuse, which would often begin with Epstein receiving massages. Maxwell has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. She faces up to 35 years in prison.

Will she name names?

A photo published by Britain's Telegraph this week shows Maxwell and actor Kevin Spacey sitting on thrones at Buckingham Palace in 2002 during a tour organised for former US president Bill Clinton by the prince. Andrew has stepped back from royal duties after a disastrous BBC interview last year in which he defended his friendship with the pair. He said a party he threw for Maxwell at Sandringham was "a straightforward shooting weekend".

Maxwell sold real estate in her initial years in the US and by 2000 had bought a $US5 million mansion in New York. In 2001, a photograph was taken of Andrew, Maxwell and now Queensland-resident Virginia Roberts Giuffre — who claims she was forced to have sex with the prince. He has denied the allegations, saying he has "no recollection of ever meeting this lady".

In 2012, Maxwell founded an ocean conservation charity The TerraMar Project, funded by Epstein. He had been convicted in 2008 of soliciting prostitution for which he spent 13 months in jail. TerraMar was only wound down last year when Epstein's sex-trafficking charges became known.

Maxwell has been photographed with dozens of other high-profile celebrities, including Trump and first lady Melania, the Clintons, Elon Musk, Harvey Weinstein, Mick Jagger, the Duchess of York, Tory Burch, Bobby Brown, Naomi Campbell and Rupert Murdoch who was her father's newspaper publisher rival.

Maxwell also has one tentative link to Australia: Katherine Keating, daughter of former prime minister Paul Keating, interviewed Maxwell for The Huffington Post in 2014.

By about 2015, Maxwell had stopped being photographed at social events.