Tales From Ghislaine Maxwell's Swedish Dog Walker
Tales From Ghislaine Maxwell's Swedish Dog Walker
Maxwell had a peculiar preference for young handsome Swedes on staff; her live-in dog walker reveals what three months in her house was like
“I thought, this is just how very rich people act. They have the money, the power, maybe it’s a status thing to have Swedish men there.”
Conversations with Rasmus offer a bizarre glimpse into Ghislaine Maxwell’s world just before she abandoned everything in New York for failed reinvention in Massachusetts. Moving backward through this timeline, we go from secluded domesticity in Manchester-By-The-Sea, to the chapter just before their marriage — when Scott and Ghislaine were still in a long-distance relationship functioning under increasing paranoia. Subsequent chapters will move us into another strange San Diego era that no one talks or writes much about, in which Maxwell morphs into a weekend biker, suburban stepmom with a giant yacht, hosting holiday parties and producing feminist-centered films before the man she loved was rattled by the ‘billionaire shakedown’ and left her for a Maxim cover model whose best friends are the Hemsworth brothers, proving how each chapter of her life is so, dramatically, varied.
*Audio included in this post was intended as personal note reference. I didn’t plan on sharing the recordings but decided (with permission) that Rasmus in his own words was a good addition to the story.
March 2015
Ghislaine Maxwell and her boyfriend Scott Borgerson brought their newly hired dog walker to a bench in Central Park to warn him about his new mysterious employer; a woman they described as “very powerful.” Anonymity, they stressed, was crucial. Her name, nor her identity, was never to be discussed under any circumstance.
Rasmus recalls Scott being particularly intimidating in this first park meeting. “He sat me down and told me, like, ‘The woman that you’re working for, living with, she’s a very famous woman. You have to be very quiet about all this. You can never say who she is or bring any people to the house.” He also insisted Rasmus not to speak to any journalists should they arrive at the residence.
Being 24, he never googled the woman he was hired by. She was not anyone he recognized. “I never wondered why. I just figured she was famous, but I didn’t know what for.”
Borgerson handed him a card with a phone number written on the back. “If you get in trouble, call this number,” he instructed.
Additionally, he was given a credit card with two letters, “GM” on the front instead of a name to pay for his daily outings.
“He came across as a scary, militant guy. It made him seem like a person who has power. He presented himself as a real man,” Rasmus said of his first encounter.
“They came off as such a power couple.”
“He sat me down and told me, ‘The woman that you’re working for, living with, she’s a very famous woman. So you can never say who she is...’”
“I Only Knew She Was A Rich Lady”
Rasmus landed the job after running into an old friend one drunken night at a bar in Sweden. Daniel told Rasmus about his latest gig working for a “rich lady” in NY. In exchange for walking her two dogs, free room and board was provided. The woman, he said, preferred Swedish men on staff and was very particular about it. All of them were blonde and tall with bright blue eyes. Daniel was one of several she kept in rotation to care primarily for her Hungarian Vizsla.
“I’m going to be there for three months. After that, we will need a new guy.” He suggested Ramus take his place when his term expired.
Maxwell paid $300 a week in cash (ironically, the same amount young girls were given for massages at the mansions). Hires could stay in her fully furnished basement at the East 65th Street townhouse. Tasks included walking and feeding two dogs twice daily.
Daniel explained there a system was in place: Maxwell enlisted Swedish men to come to New York on three-month visas. When their terms expired, they went back home. Those who chose to return for another stretch would get a raise of $50 to $100. Upon every return, the pay grade would increase.
A fellow Swedish dog-walker, formally employed by Maxwell, claimed Borgerson worked for the CIA. He made him out like “a mythical figure with high connections.”
Coming from a small town in Sweden, Rasmus explained to Raeden Greer on her podcast "Diaries of a Pretender,” that he was thrilled at a spontaneous opportunity for a taste of the high life in the big city in one of the most affluent corners of New York but he had zero experience with dogs. When a young woman named Dana reached out on Zoom to interview him, he lied. He told her he grew up with dogs and was comfortable handling all kinds of breeds. Over a brief zoom call, amidst bad lighting and shaky reception, he answered basic questions to prove he was capable of handling and caring for dogs.
First Impression
When he was first introduced to Ghislaine, she walked over to him and asked, “Do you have a passport?”
He thought she was messing with him. “Yes,” he answered.
“Now you have TWO passports,” she said. “You just have to register on my TerraMar Project website, and you will get a second passport.”
His first impression was that she was “something special.” Her presence dominated everything around her. It intimidated him. She “took the room,” he explains, sweeping confidence made her seem like “someone in a position of high power.”
Instantly she was someone he sought to impress. “Not someone you wanted to let down.”
Demands Were Simple
Ghislaine was up everyday early sitting at a big desk in her office on the 1st floor.
At 9:00 am she expected a grande skim milk latte from Starbucks
Dogs were to be walked at least twice a day.
Weekends off
No friends allowed at the house
No girls overnight
“I did a bunch of different, small things that obviously any person could do, but for some reason she wanted young Swedish men to do those things.”
Who is Dana Burns?
In 2015, she was Ghislaine’s assistant. Prior to that she was associated with Jeffery Epstein— named in the flight logs and photographed on his arm at various events. In one image (where she is commonly - understandably - mistaken for Miley Cyrus) Epstein's hand is resting low on her backside.
Knowing what we do, one can assume that initially she was sexually involved with and employed by Epstein before coming to work for Ghislaine.
According to Dana’s former roommate, in 2005 Dana told her she was dating an older guy who was funding her lifestyle.
In Getty archives, Dana appears a couple of years later in photos taken at Ghislaine’s crowded house parties posed with suited men and playing with Nemo in black heels in the corner of Maxwell’s NYC kitchen.
Interestingly, she was also listed as a director of the Maxwell’s Terramore project and her name associated with multiple Maxwell & Epstein addresses.
After Ghislaine was implicated as an accomplice to Epstein, Dana - like most of the other young women involved in this hushed trafficking network, dropped off the radar completely. Her social channels were wiped clean. She even briefly changed her name from Dana to Kim Burns.
A Daily Beast article described her as an Epstein insider “who could bring Ghislaine Maxwell down.”
This was not the case. Both women protected one another.
In a 2016 deposition, Ghislaine claimed not to know where Dana was living. She only offered that Dana worked for her nonprofit and had been involved in other “business-related activities.” Rasmus says this is because Dana and Ghislaine had a very “close” and loyal relationship. Ghislaine trusted Dana. And while the two would argue occasionally they were always quick to make up. “Dana could say things to Ghislaine that would make her mad, but they always got over it.”
Rasmus admitted to developing a crush on Dana during his stay. The fact that they are no longer in communication still bothers him. She was one of the first friends he made in the city. They were not romantically linked, but would often stay up all night drinking wine and talking.
During one of those evenings, Dana told him she was craving “a normal life.” Soon after, that became her reality. She married an engineer and had a baby. They relocated to the New Jersey suburbs and withdraw from the NY scene altogether.
“She moved away to start a new life. That was it; she didn’t go into any details or give any explanation. That was the last time I heard from her.”
Ghislaine, he recalls, drove out to New Jersey to attend her baby shower.
In our conversations he still wondered about Dana. What happened. How she’s doing. No one he talks to has not heard from her since.
Work Dynamic / Walks In The Park / Ghislaine Denies Visits to Sweden
Despite a reputation for being sex-crazed and constantly on the prowl, according to Rasmus, Ghislaine was only always professional with him. He says she never made advances or flirted aside from commenting on his toned physique. “She complimented my calves once.”
On rare occasions, when her guard down, he found her more endearing. Once, while explaining to her how Tinder worked, Rasmus joked about her not getting any “swipes.” Shocked, she laughed out loud, “Why would you say that?” she scoffed, amused by the unexpected break in character.
“She was serious most of the time, but she appreciated humor. She liked to joke around.”
Their dynamic shifted briefly one night when Ghislaine invited Rasmus to a screening of The Avengers. She asked if he had something nice to wear. She was not at all impressed by the movie or the event, but together they went anyway. A car picked them up and took them to the theater. After the premier, she was more relaxed and personable. They hung around playing pool. He ordered wine for her, she seemed interested in learning more about where he came from. He asked if she had ever been to Sweden. “I asked her what's the thing with Sweden? I asked if she had been there or whether she liked Sweden.” She said no, she had never been before.
Flight logs prove otherwise. Maxwell definitely traveled to Sweden and had money in Swedish banks. Some theories believe her preference for Swedish staff stems back to something her father instilled in her about trusting certain nationalities over others in designated areas of employment.
Ghislaine’s House Rules / Scott’s Warning / A Second Chance / After Party
Ghislaine’s extreme paranoia was exposed on one occasion. She was busy entertaining friends when the doorbell rang. She asked Rasmus if he could take it. When he did he found a confused delivery man on the stoop, so he invited him into the front portion of her townhouse to determine what address he was searching for. Hearing an unfamiliar voice below, Ghislaine came rushing down the stairs in a seething panic.
“She sent him away and then screamed at me, ‘It could have been anyone; somebody could have been out to kill me.’
“It made me feel so bad. I didn't think it was such a big deal, but she made a huge deal out of it.
“She said, ‘I might have to send you home. I have to think about it.”
She was livid, spotting a stranger in her home. She demanded the delivery guy hand over his ID so she could take a copy of it. He did. When he left, she scolded Rasmus. “That could have been anyone. That could have been someone who wanted to kill me,” she yelled, threatening to send him home.
Rasmus felt terrible, figuring he had blown everything with one careless move.
However, Ghislaine decided to give him another shot after sleeping on it. She told him the next morning how very foolish he had been but said she was willing to give him a second chance if he agreed that it would never happen again.
A successful cook out was his chance to dissolve any lingering resentments.
Weeks later, Ghislaine asked Rasmus if he could help out with a summer cookout at her home. He agreed. That weekend, amidst a sweltering heatwave, fancy foreign-speaking houseguests gathered at her townhouse, with Rasmus grilling burgers to feed the crowd; A task he executed perfectly, according to Ghislaine. She was so impressed by his efforts she insisted he return on a ‘burn and turn.’
“She had a party at her house, and I was responsible for grilling the hamburgers. I was so nervous, she had all her friends there, and I made hamburgers. And after that night, I was done; I was sweaty, so tired, and I honestly gave all I had. She said, ‘You’re amazing. How didn’t I see this before? You have shown what you can do.’ She made a huge deal out of it.”
“You have to come back; you have to do a burn and turn,” she urged him. “Burn and turn” meant returning to Sweden then coming right back to New York on a renowned visa. Another option, Maxwell informed him, was to apply for a six-month tourist visa which only required proof of $10,000 in a bank account.
“She said it to me like everybody has an extra $10,000 to show.” If he didn’t have it, she assumed surely his parents did.
The wine detail is of interest to me only because Epstein once bragged to Vicky Ward that he forced Ghislaine to stop drinking when they met, which suggests - to a degree - that he took pride in having control over her.
“How To Be A Man”
Captain Nemo was a walker’s nightmare. Ghislaine had success shaping billionaires but not dogs. She was determined to refine him, and refused to give up. She wanted him strictly trained and obedient like her friend’s dog (she was competitive in that regard, Rasmus says) but Nemo was unruly and unpredictable. On one occasion he jumped on a valet employee and tried to bite him during an afternoon stroll. When Scott heard about the encounter, he was furious. He took Rasmus out for a walk to show him how to handle Nemo “like a man.”
“He was always trying to prove his authority over me,” Rasmus said. “I would walk the dog, and the dog wasn’t very well trained because so many different Swedish guys handled him. But Scott was convinced he could do better.”
“Scott got to hear about it, and then he took it on himself to show me how an alpha male treats a dog.
“He took me out on a walk with the dog and showed me this is how you do it as a man to control the dog.”
Scott and Ghislaine
According to Rasmus, Ghislaine would visit Scott more often than he came to her. When he was in town he says they behaved like new teenage lovers. The house was torn apart, they stayed out late and slept in. Clothes were strewed everywhere. Ghislaine’s demeanor switched slightly. She became snarky and more abrasive. Rasmus remembers one morning, coming up the stairs to find Ghislaine and Scott sitting together at the breakfast table. Scott made a comment about him needing a haircut, mumbling something about it looking like a “bird’s nest.” Ghislaine ran with — making fun of him to a point he was embarrassed by it.
Jewelry Bag Trust Test / Ghislaine Teaches Rasmus to Bake The Sponge Cake
One of the more peculiar footnotes in the whole story is Ghislaine’s habit of presenting odd trust tests without any explanation. Rasmus says she was always coming up with new weird ways to test the trustability of her staff. Whenever they passed, she responded with overly encouraging flattery and celebration.
“She loved to teach and show people how to do things.”
On one occasion, when Rasmus purchased the wrong kind of bread, Maxwell marched him back to the store and swapped the loaf out for another without paying, to show him "how it’s done.
“There were small things,” he said, “that showed her personality. Like she had the right to do anything she wanted.”
Other examples include handing over a big duffle bag crammed full of expensive jewelry to take to Manhattan to be cleaned. And a surprise spongecake challenge where she randomly appeared in front of him one morning to announce he would be learning how to bake her famous spongecake. The feat, he says, came peppered with overly enthusiastic praise on her part. She applauded him over every step he succeeded at. “Like how you would treat a child you were helping,” he remembers.
The end result was an excellent version of her favorite sweet. She and Scott devoured it the next morning with heaps of butter. Rasmus had a bite.
“To Ghislaine With Love.”
Before he left, Rasmus snapped a photo of an item someone pointed out to him displayed in Maxwell’s office: A signed copy of Bill Clinton’s autobiography: My Life. The inscription in it reads, “To Ghislaine with love.”
Another item he remembers was a grenade sitting atop Maxwell’s desk in the office. “I always thought that was weird.”
Unforgettable Times
Overall, Rasmus remembers this three month NY stint living alongside America’s most hated woman, fondly. “Unforgettable times,” he says.
It wasn’t until 2019, when news of Epstein’s death hit that he realized who it was he had been working for. He was shocked to learn Ghislaine was a main part of the scandal. “Now I know the full story, it kind of makes sense. I think Ghislaine liked to have power over people. That made her feel good or something.”
He still wonders what would have happened had he returned, like she wanted. After we spoke he worried that in our interviews, if his remarks were too flattering, he might be hounded by attack. Admittedly, he liked working for Ghislaine. But with the current state of things, like anyone who knew her outside of scandal, he was nervous to publicly admit it.
Next week, I’ll return with the last (long) chapter of Depp Vs. Heard. Expect a brief pause here until then. So much to keep and catch up on. Xx
Fascinating article!! Love these “behind closed doors” snippets!! Thanks, Jessica ❤️👏🏼
G behaves in a very typical way of a certain type of privileged ex public school , they flatter and praise those beneath them whom may be useful ( and will drop them very quickly if they aren’t ) It is all part of their controlling tactics and they expect people who work for them or provide a service to be flattered to even be chosen and therefore give in to all their demands .