Ghislaine Maxwell is pictured with her husband Scott Borgerson for the first time

Smiling with their arms around each other, this is the first picture of Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson together, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. 

The photo shows them beaming as they pose at the start of an affair that would, seven years later, lead Borgerson to beg with a judge to free his wife on bail while she awaits trial on child trafficking charges.

The photograph was taken in October 2013 at the inaugural Arctic Circle assembly, a conference in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. 

Relaxing in the cocktail hour after the day of speakers who included Hillary Clinton and Google founder, Eric Schmidt, the mood appears light and friendly.

Borgerson clutches a wine glass and Maxwell appears flushed, as if the attention of the man 14 years her junior has flattered her.

It was to prove a significant night for both parties: within a year of meeting Maxwell Borgerson, 44, ditched his preppy suits and red ties and lost weight.

He started wearing crewneck sweaters, grew a beard, shaved his head and began to separate from his wife and mother of his two children.

Borgerson and Maxwell married in 2016 and according to filings by her lawyers, they were living a ‘quiet family life’ together until July when the FBI arrested her at her $1m home in New Hampshire.

The 58-year-old British socialite is accused of procuring girls as young as 14 for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, allegations she strongly denies.

In a letter to US District Judge Alison Nathan, Borgerson, a millionaire tech chief executive, says: ‘The person described in the criminal charges is not the person we know. I have never witnessed anything close to inappropriate with Ghislaine.

‘Quite to the contrary, the Ghislaine I know is a wonderful and loving person’. 

This is the first picture of Ghislaine Maxwell and her husband Scott Borgerson together, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. The photo shows them beaming as they pose at the start of an affair that would, seven years later, lead Borgerson to beg with a judge to free his wife on bail while she awaits trial on child trafficking charges. The photograph was taken in October 2013 at the inaugural Arctic Circle assembly, a conference in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland

It was to prove a significant night for both parties: within a year of meeting Maxwell Borgerson, 44, ditched his preppy suits and red ties and lost weight

It was to prove a significant night for both parties: within a year of meeting Maxwell Borgerson, 44, ditched his preppy suits and red ties and lost weight

It was to prove a significant night for both parties: within a year of meeting Maxwell Borgerson, 44, ditched his preppy suits and red ties and lost weight

He began to wear crew neck sweaters, grew a beard and began to separate from his wife and mother of his two children.

He began to wear crew neck sweaters, grew a beard and began to separate from his wife and mother of his two children.

Now Borgerson has begged a judge to free Maxwell, offering a $28.5M bail. Pictured: A redacted version of Borgerson's letter is shown above

Now Borgerson has begged a judge to free Maxwell, offering a $28.5M bail. Pictured: A redacted version of Borgerson’s letter is shown above 

Borgerson says that he knew about Maxwell’s relationship with Epstein – they dated in the 1990s – but he is convinced of her innocence.

He writes: ‘I believe that Ghislaine had nothing to do with Epstein’s crimes’.

Maxwell’s alleged crimes date back to between 1994 and 1997, long before she met Borgerson, and so it may be unsurprising that Borgerson finds it hard to recognize the woman described in the federal indictment.

And given how intertwined their lives have become, it may be that he knows more about her than anybody since Epstein.

Back in 2013 however, this was all in the future, and Maxwell and Borgerson were just embarking on their affair.

The Arctic Circle event was billed as Davos on the ice, a meeting of more than 900 people from 40 nations to discuss economic and environmental issues in the Arctic.

For Maxwell, who was using her environmental nonprofit TerraMar to rehabilitate her reputation after her association with Epstein, who was jailed for procuring underage girls in 2008, it was a perfect place to network.

During the event Hillary Clinton sent a video message and Schmidt appeared in person, as did former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

It is not clear who caught whose eye first, but Maxwell and Borgerson were evidently drawn to each other and chatted over a drink.

The man standing to their right, a wealthy investor, poses for the photo being taken by the official Arctic Circle photographer, but Maxwell only had one person on her mind.

At the time Borgerson was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a world renowned expert on shipping data thanks to his Boston-based company CargoMetrics.

Their shared passion for the sea and for conservation no doubt came up but, as the other man in the photo did not return requests for comment, it is not clear what exactly was the subject of the conversation.

They were both pictured speaking at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2014

They were both pictured speaking at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2014

They were also both pictured speaking at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2014 (left and right)

By then Borgerson, a former Coast Guard officer who some have mistakenly thought was an ex-Navy SEAL, had begun to change his appearance just as one of Maxwell's previous boyfriends did

By then Borgerson, a former Coast Guard officer who some have mistakenly thought was an ex-Navy SEAL, had begun to change his appearance just as one of Maxwell’s previous boyfriends did 

Pictured: Borgerson walking Maxwell's dog last summer

Pictured: Borgerson walking Maxwell’s dog last summer 

They married 2016 but no details have been made public about where or when exactly the service happened. It was likely done to ensure maximum secrecy as by then Maxwell had been accused in court documents of recruiting Virginia Roberts Giuffre at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. It was also done early in 2016 as by the summer Maxwell and Borgerson moved into a $2.4m waterfront mansion  (pictured) in Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts

They married 2016 but no details have been made public about where or when exactly the service happened. It was likely done to ensure maximum secrecy as by then Maxwell had been accused in court documents of recruiting Virginia Roberts Giuffre at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. It was also done early in 2016 as by the summer Maxwell and Borgerson moved into a $2.4m waterfront mansion  (pictured) in Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts

But soon after Maxwell persuaded Borgerson to join the board of TerraMar, tax filings show, the first formal paperwork showing their growing closeness.

They may well have met again soon after but if they didn’t, we do know their paths crossed the following October at the second Arctic Circle Summit in Iceland, where they were both speakers.

By then Borgerson, a former Coast Guard officer who some have mistakenly thought was an ex-Navy SEAL, had begun to change his appearance just as one of Maxwell’s previous boyfriends did 

Gateway computer company founder Ted Waitt ditched his drab suits and pony tail for a more modern look and a shaved head once he began to date Maxwell.

One report cited friends who said it made him look like a ‘Jason Statham doppelgänger’ – a look Borgerson seemed to gravitate towards as well.

He had the car to match and these days he drives a Tesla.

By now Borgerson was having trouble at home with his wife Rebecca, who he married in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2001 and has a 10-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son with.

In June 2014 Rebecca sought an abuse prevention order from a court in Massachusetts after Borgerson attacked her and was charged with assault and domestic battery, according to court papers.

She accused him of being ‘extremely controlling’ and exhibiting disturbing behavior throughout this litigation,’ court papers state.

DailyMail.com has previously reported that around 2015, Borgerson told Rebecca he was going to London on business and he would send videos.

‘Rebecca watched a video of him and although he said he was going to be in London, he was actually in Miami with Ghislaine,’ a source said.

‘Rebecca was sitting there with her two young children watching this video of Scott and Ghislaine hugging and kissing.

‘Rebecca was devastated. Things quickly fell apart after that.

The source added: ‘How could you throw all that away, those wonderful children and wife, for a woman who is 14 years older than him and allegedly has a role in this whole Epstein business?’

The marriage fell apart when Borgerson sent Rebecca a video of himself in Miami with Ghislaine, and the two were 'hugging and kissing'

The marriage fell apart when Borgerson sent Rebecca (left and right) a video of himself in Miami with Ghislaine, and the two were ‘hugging and kissing’, a close family source told DailyMail.com.  Borgerson, who married Rebecca in Palm Beach, Florida, in May 2001, once allegedly threatened her, saying: ‘Don’t make me beat you in front of the children’

Ghislaine Maxwell's stepchildren were heartbroken by her arrest because they thought of her as their 'proxy mother', one of her representatives claimed in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com last week. Pictured: Borgerson's ex-wife Rebecca their two children

Ghislaine Maxwell’s stepchildren were heartbroken by her arrest because they thought of her as their ‘proxy mother’, one of her representatives claimed in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com last week. Pictured: Borgerson’s ex-wife Rebecca their two children 

In December 2015 the divorce was finalized, and Maxwell and Borgerson wasted little time moving on with their lives.

They married 2016 but no details have been made public about where or when exactly the service happened.

It was likely done to ensure maximum secrecy as by then Maxwell had been accused in court documents of recruiting Virginia Roberts Giuffre at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

It was also done early in 2016 as by the summer Maxwell and Borgerson moved into a $2.4m waterfront mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts.

What followed appears to have been a period of the closest that Maxwell has come to domestic bliss in recent memory.

She reportedly ferried Borgerson’s children to and from school and made lunches for them. A representative for Maxwell has claimed his children are devastated as she was a ‘proxy mother’ for them.

Sources told DailyMail.com that they lived a low-key life that was totally different from the non-stop partying Maxwell did on the New York and Palm Beach social circuit.

Maxwell told friends in their very limited social circle that she was content to be a homebody.

‘On the rare occasion they a small ventured out to a party or social gatherings, they were definitely a power couple, but while Maxwell was animated and chatty, Borgerson was much more reserved,’ an acquaintance said,

They were hardly lovey dovey, but the chemistry was obvious.’

But things changed with Epstein’s arrest last August, and got even worse when he hanged himself in his cell weeks later.

Sources told DailyMail.com that they lived a low-key life that was totally different from the non-stop partying Maxwell did on the New York and Palm Beach social circuit

Maxwell is seen in a court sketch from July

Sources told DailyMail.com that they lived a low-key life that was totally different from the non-stop partying Maxwell did on the New York and Palm Beach social circuit 

The financial disclosure form provided by Maxwell's lawyers to the court shows how her and Borgerson's assets are now completely intermingled. He is worth $20m and she is worth just over $2m, however the $15m sale of her New York townhouse in early 2016 was put into a trust and then used to buy property which is now in Borgerson's name

The financial disclosure form provided by Maxwell’s lawyers to the court shows how her and Borgerson’s assets are now completely intermingled. He is worth $20m and she is worth just over $2m, however the $15m sale of her New York townhouse in early 2016 was put into a trust and then used to buy property which is now in Borgerson’s name 

The lawyers said Maxwell and her husband, with whom she has been living for the past four years, were offering a $22.5million personal recognizance bond secured by about $8million in property and $500,000 in cash. They said $22.5million represents all of Maxwell and her spouse's assets - which were detailed in a chart (pictured) included in the court papers

The lawyers said Maxwell and her husband, with whom she has been living for the past four years, were offering a $22.5million personal recognizance bond secured by about $8million in property and $500,000 in cash. They said $22.5million represents all of Maxwell and her spouse’s assets – which were detailed in a chart (pictured) included in the court papers

Maxwell came under intense media scrutiny and, perhaps worried about the toll it was taking on Borgerson and her step children, she bought her $1m home in cash in Bradford, New Hampshire, an hour’s drive away from him.

Then in July this year the FBI came for her.

The financial disclosure form provided by Maxwell’s lawyers to the court shows how her and Borgerson’s assets are now completely intermingled.

He is worth $20m and she is worth just over $2m, however the $15m sale of her New York townhouse in early 2016 was put into a trust and then used to buy property which is now in Borgerson’s name.

The documents show significant movements of cash which, prosecutors will no doubt argue, was designed to hide it from the FBI, or perhaps from her alleged victims.

Maxwell had $8.8m cash in December 2014, which went down to $2.6m by December 2016.

That same month $17m appears in her account under a joint trust with Borgerson which appears to be the proceeds from the sale of her New York townhouse.

By December 2018 the amount in the trust had dropped to just $11.3m and Maxwell’s cash balances fell to just $1.5m.

Meanwhile the couple spent $5m on real estate which was initially held in a trust and then transferred to Borgerson in 2018.

They also bought a $2m property and another home worth $1m which were in Borgerson’s name, which appears to be an apartment in Boston.

By October 2020, the last date on the form, almost everything the couple own is in Borgerson’s name.

After reading the filings Judge Nathan will essentially have to decide which Ghislaine Maxwell is currently sitting in the grim Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn: the alleged child trafficker or the doting stepmother who just wants to get back to her husband.