Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite and former confidante of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested by the FBI.

She was taken into custody on Thursday morning and is due to appear in a federal court later, NBC News reports.

She was arrested in Bedford, New Hampshire around 8:30am on charges she conspired with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, sources say.

The daughter of media baron Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine was a one-time girlfriend of Epstein's and was at the high-flying investor's side for decades.

But she was also alleged to have helped Epstein groom teen girls for sex with the rich and powerful. One of those teens, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, levelled that charge against Maxwell in a 2015 defamation suit, as have a number of other women.

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