Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial will hear spooky tales of schoolgirl costumes, gifts for teenagers and haunting sexual abuse

NEW YORK, NY — They are young girls who dream of becoming professional musicians, models or actors — but they often come from poor families and their parents need money. They are the perfect target for a pair of high-class “predators” who stun them with incredible wealth and promise them the world — and then allegedly groomed, sexually abused and raped them.

That is the story presented by federal prosecutors on the first day of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Millionaire related test Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring.

The 59-year-old British heiress is accused of selling underage girls for Epstein to sexually harass in what prosecutors called a “pyramid abuse scheme”. Four victims will testify that Maxwell had engaged in Epstein’s sex ring – including one who said the couple had her participate in a “group sex massage” when she was 14 years old. Maxwell has denied the allegations.

The jury will hear from pilots, household employees, members of law enforcement and a former employee of the millionaire. Evidence in the trial will include “schoolgirl clothes”, flight logs and FedEx records showing Epstein’s gifts to a 15-year-old girl.

Maxwell’s lawyers hit back, arguing that she was being seen as a scapegoat for Epstein’s crimes. Defense attorney Bobbi Steinheim said: “Ever since Eve was accused of luring Adam with an apple, women have been blamed for bad behavior by men. “The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are because of the things Jeffrey Epstein did… But she is not Jeffrey Epstein. She’s not like Jeffrey Epstein, [she is] unlike any other powerful men — tycoons, media giants — who abuse women”.

During the 90s, Maxwell became known as Epstein’s social media girlfriend who connected beginners with rich and powerful friends-consists of Prince Andrew, who has been accused of engaging in dirty sex. (The royal family declared him innocent.) Later, victims said, Maxwell allegedly served as the financier’s “mistress”, recruiting schoolgirls to give him erotic massages and combs. broach them for abuse.

Prosecutors called Maxwell Epstein “best friend and right-hand man” in court on Monday. Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz said: “She preyed on vulnerable young girls, manipulated them and served them to abuse… That’s all this trial is about. ,” said Assistant United States Attorney Lara Pomerantz. She claims Maxwell was attracted to Epstein’s lavish life, which included lavish private homes in New Mexico, New York and Paris, a private island, private jet and incredible wealth.

The mysterious Epstein is said to remind many of Maxwell’s own troubled and charismatic father, Robert Maxwell, a newspaper tycoon whose life revolved around rumors of connections to foreign spy agencies, who tricked his employees from their pensions, and who died in an accident. mystery beyond his yacht, Lady Ghislaine. Robert Maxwell left his family a large debt – but Epstein helped Ghislaine get it back and “maintain the lifestyle she was used to,” prosecutors said.

Ghislaine Maxwell arrived in court Monday looking dapper and serious, wearing a cream sweater and simple black slit pants. She happily waved to her sister Isabel, who was present in the proceedings, and took a lot of notes. Her demeanor is in stark contrast to previous appearances in court, when she looked haggard and depressed and when her team accused the jailer of mistreating her. She wore a mask that often slipped under her nose, as prosecutors gave testimony from inside a glass box, to endorse COVID-19 safety protocols.

But the charges prosecutors brought against Maxwell were anything but adamant. Maxwell is said to have taken teenage girls shopping, gained their trust, and even escorted them into the room where Epstein would molest them. She ordered Epstein employees to “hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing” in a “culture of silence”.

One victim will testify that Maxwell and Epstein approached her when she was 14 years old and at a summer camp for gifted kids. It was the beginning of a “nightmare” in which they allegedly abused her for four years.

Epstein abused underage girls like her “once a day,” prosecutors said. He would start with aphrodisiac massages, then proceed to penetration and oral rape. At times, they say, Maxwell was in the room when the abuse took place. Sometimes, they say, she touched the girls themselves.

Epstein and Maxwell “committed” [their] crimes against each other,” the prosecution stated.

She is said to be always on the lookout for new victims; A girl was 17 years old when she was “discovered in the parking lot” by Maxwell, who had recruited her, “rejected”, prosecutors said. Girls are also encouraged to recruit other underage teenagers in exchange for cash.

Maxwell’s attorneys plan to push back against these allegations by questioning the victim’s memories and motives. “This case is about memory, manipulation and money,” defense attorney Steinheim said, adding that the accusers’ memories have faded over time and been “spoiled” by everything in the story. years, including by victims’ attorneys seeking a “big jackpot” and by media reports.

She said that lawyers see Epstein and Maxwell as “easy targets for lawsuits” and noted that the accuser who said she was groomed at the age of 14 did not want to be involved in the criminal case against Epstein, she changed her mind later and requested money from a victim fund set up by his estate. “She received $5 million. Take a close look at what she’s going to say on the stand,” said Steinheim.

Maxwell’s attorneys also argued that the sex act Epstein performed occurred when some of the alleged victims were of age. Steinheim said that when a girl allegedly got a massage at Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, she was old enough in the state — and she still received $1.5 million from the victim’s fund. The defense also claims that another alleged victim in the UK has attained the age of majority there; Therefore, the judge in the case agreed to limit the woman’s testimony.

Steinheim questioned the motives of that woman and another alleged victim, named “Kate” and “Caroline,” in court. She claims “Kate” is a British actress who dated an Oxford classmate of Maxwell’s who was twice her age and that she had been in contact with Epstein for a decade after the alleged accusations. abuse, including sending him pictures of her while he was in prison. Steinheim said Kate received $3.25 million from victims’ funds.

“Caroline,” she said, has filed two lawsuits against Epstein and one of his assistants, Sarah Kellen, who never singled out Maxwell as a defendant. Steinheim said evidence would show that Caroline groomed and trafficked girls for Epstein. After his death, her attorney contacted the government and she eventually implored Maxwell. Caroline received $3.5 million from the fund. Victims “were influenced by lawyers, by the media, by what they had heard and money—big sums of money,” Steinheim said. “So far, although they have received funds from a foundation, their word has not been challenged.”

Epstein’s enemies first came to light a decade ago, when teenage girls told Florida police that he routinely sexually abused them at his Palm Beach hideaway to exchange for cash. A powerful man who knows how to count Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Woody Allen, and Harvey Weinstein between his friends — and ordinary people broke up with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago — at the time was awarded a great deal: He pleaded guilty once to soliciting the prostitution of a minor and was sentenced to a misdemeanor in county jail with the likes to work leniently. His lawyers also arranged a controversial non-prosecution agreement for Epstein’s unnamed “accomplices”.

But Epstein was again arrested by New York authorities in July 2019 and accused of exploiting dozens of underage girls in a sex pyramid scheme. At the time of arrest, the authorities found a safe filled with gems, piles of cash and fake passports at his Upper East Side palace, along with a series of erotic pictures of girls. He Suicide a month later while awaiting trial.

A year later, Maxwell was controlled by the FBI at a secluded New Hampshire mansion, where she is hiding out with her secretively much younger husband, Technology CEO Scott Borgerson. She remains Epstein’s only accomplice to face charges related to his human trafficking ring, although French authorities have also arrested Epstein’s close friend and model. Jean-Luc Brunel, who is accused of raping underage girls and selling them to Epstein.

—With additional reporting by Katie Baker