"Far from 'hiding,' she has lived in the United States since 1991, has litigated civil cases arising from her supposed ties to Epstein, and has not left the country even once since Epstein's arrest a year ago, even though she was aware of the pending, and highly publicized, criminal investigation," they wrote.

They also claimed that Maxwell, through her attorneys, has been in "regular contact" with federal prosecutors from the day following Epstein's arrest through her own arrest earlier this month.

A spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney's office, Nicholas Biase, declined to comment on that claim.

In their brief, Maxwell's attorneys also preview legal arguments they plan to make with regard to the indictment, which center on a non-prosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors in Miami in 2007 that appeared to immunize "any potential co-conspirators of Epstein."

When Epstein himself was indicted, New York federal prosecutors said they believed the Florida agreement didn't restrict their office from prosecuting him, but his lawyers argued otherwise.

That dispute wasn't resolved because Epstein died in jail while awaiting trial.