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Ghislaine Maxwell’s Ex Ted Waitt Says $7.2M Breakup Gift Wasn’t Enough for Her
A tech mogul who once handed Ghislaine Maxwell a $7.2 million parting gift has broken his silence before Congress.
Gateway co-founder Ted Waitt told the House Oversight Committee that when he ended their seven-year relationship in 2010, Maxwell was “not being happy with the amount” and was “wanting more,” as reported by The Daily Beast. Waitt, 63, whose fortune once reached $4 billion before the dot-com crash, testified that he also gave Maxwell, 64, thousands of dollars every month throughout their time together as a couple.
Per the outlet, the convicted sex trafficker, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, evidently expected the arrangement to last forever. Waitt told lawmakers that the breakup was his decision alone and that the multimillion-dollar payout was meant to help Maxwell “continue to live her life at the level she was accustomed to.”
“We lived a fairly extravagant life,” he testified before congress per the report. “In hindsight, if I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have done it.”
When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, 48, compared the split to a divorce, Waitt described the massive payment as a “palimony settlement-type thing,” according to the outlet. He confirmed there was never a written agreement between them.
The pair also mingled in high-profile social circles. Maxwell accompanied Waitt on a 2009 yacht outing with Chelsea Clinton and her then-fiancé, Marc Mezvinsky, according to a Politico report from that year. The couple was also among the guests at the Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding in 2010.
Waitt’s testimony came after his name surfaced in emails released as part of the Epstein files, per the report.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, 49, pressed him on whether he knew Maxwell had been named a co-conspirator in Epstein’s 2008 conviction. Waitt testified he had no idea until long after their breakup, as reported by The Daily Beast.
“I can say unequivocally that if I knew then what I know now about Ms. Maxwell, I never would’ve befriended her or allowed her to be around my four children,” he told lawmakers, according to the outlet.
