Ghislaine Maxwell
© Chris Ison/PAGhislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell has "a lot of information" about powerful people with connections to billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the producer of a new documentary has claimed.

The British socialite is known to have been an ex-girlfriend of Epstein and is alleged to have recruited multiple young women to be sexually abused by him.

She was arrested on July 2 in the US on federal charges of trafficking minors and will stand trial next year - prosecutors have also alleged she participated in the abuse.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty.

Bob Friedman, producer of the upcoming documentary Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, said Maxwell's trial would expose "certain people" of influence.

Speaking ahead of the documentary's US release on the anniversary of Epstein's death on August 9, Mr Friedman claimed that the team's investigation had led to a greater understanding of Maxwell's vast connections within the elite.

"Clearly we believe that she does have a lot of information, when you're facing 35 years of potential imprisonment," he said. "No-one knows exactly how this will go, the case is scheduled for next July which is a long time to stay in prison and await a trial. We believe certain people will be outed as a result of this and we believe that she does have a lot of this information. We think that this goes way beyond the assaults and many of the things we've heard about - the context of these relationships with her... this world of extreme power and of wealth and of connections and of relationships."

The documentary premieres in Britain on Crime+Investigation UK with a double episode airing on August 25 at 9pm. Parts three and four will be broadcast the following evening on August 26, also at 9pm.

Associates have described Maxwell as a "fiercely bright, funny" person who loved "dropping names" at parties.

Christopher Mason, a writer and former "buddy" of Maxwell's, said he had no idea of her alleged involvement in the "grotesque depravity".

"A typical conversation would be running into Ghislaine at a party and her saying, 'Oh sorry, I have to dash, I'm meeting with Bill Clinton'," he said.

"It was always that she was just on her way to a helicopter lesson because everything was related to something incredibly exciting and mysterious and powerful connections with someone she was just on her way to meet.

"We were buddies in the 1990s, I saw her all the time, we had a lot of mutual friends, lots of dinners, cocktail parties.

"All of my interactions with Ghislaine had been upbeat, she was like an old pal I was always happy to see, I had no idea whatsoever of that kind of grotesque depravity.