Key Moments From Witness Testimony

Ghislaine Maxwell’s Courtroom Sketch
Photo: JANE ROSENBERG / REUTERS

More than a year after she was arrested in New Hampshire, the social media site fugitives Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking trial underway in Manhattan. Federal prosecutors maintain that, as early as 1994, Maxwell helped her late friend and sometimes owner Jeffrey Epstein “recruits, grooms, and ultimately abuses” young girls as young as 14. The government alleges she developed seemingly platonic relationships with potential cues before bringing “sexual topics” into the conversation and training them on eventual interactions with Epstein and him. his partner – and sometimes even Maxwell himself. In return, she allegedly suspended modeling jobs, educational opportunities and money, trapping young girls for sex services at Epstein’s various businesses.

In addition to helping Epstein build and maintain his alleged sex ring, prosecutors say Maxwell was sworn “in an effort to conceal his crimes,” an allegation of perjury that will not be considered. considered in this trial. This jury will be asked to rate Maxwell’s purported role as Epstein’s mistress, weighing charge entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sexual acts; transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; charges of conspiring to carry out charges of solicitation and transportation; sex trafficking of minors; and sex trafficking conspiracy. (Prosecutors added the last two cases in April.)

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty and always refuse The accusations against her are “absolute rubbish.” However, they did appear repeatedly, as Epstein’s victims repeatedly alluded to Maxwell recounting their abusive behavior. Several witnesses will testify at the trial; below, key moments from their accounts.

On November 30, a woman witness under the name Jane says she met Maxwell at an art camp in Michigan – maybe Interlochen, where Epstein was a donor and also kept a chalet – in 1994. Jane said she was 14 at the time and Maxwell passed by with a “cute Yorkie”. The pair began talking while Jane played with the dog, and Epstein eventually joined the conversation; According to Jane, he assumed they both lived in Palm Beach, Florida, as a coincidence, and took her number. When Jane came home from camp, Epstein invited her and her mother to his mansion for tea – the first and last visit her mother would accompany. However, Jane continued to visit Epstein’s house, and Maxwell always seemed to be present: She was supposed to take the girl to the movies or shopping, buying her beautiful clothes and even lingerie from Victoria’s Secret ( “basic looking things”, such as “white cotton briefs”).

Eventually, however, Jane said Maxwell began talking to her about sex, what appeared to be a prelude to abuse: One day, according to Jane, Epstein – after a conversation in which he I offer to introduce you to agents who can “make things happen”. her – take her to his pool house and take off his pants. What happened next left her “frozen with fear,” she said. “He pulled me on top of him and masturbated on me,” Jane remembered. “I was extremely scared and felt gross, and I felt embarrassed.” She recalls the subsequent meeting that allegedly occurred in Epstein’s bedroom, where Maxwell and the financier began to run into each other, encouraging her to join them.

Then came the massages for which Epstein is now famous: Maxwell, Jane said, instructing her on “how Jeffrey likes to get a massage.” That also turned into sex, with Maxwell occasionally joining in. “I would say it seemed so normal,” Jane said of the massage, “it was so ordinary, like it wasn’t a big deal.” Over the years, the girl would be in Epstein’s orbit, traveling with him “probably ten times” and visiting his New Mexico ranch and New York townhouse, she said. An Epstein pilot remembers seeing Jane on Epstein’s private jet.

Jane testified to being coerced into having fun with Epstein, though she said the details were “hard to remember”, as she became increasingly “paralysed” with the encounters and they began to “seem like together.” Maxwell’s lawyers are said to have questioned the gaps in her memory, as well as her long silence on the matter. But Jane, who works in the entertainment industry, said she always wanted to move on. “How do you tell or describe any of these things,” she asked, “when all you feel is shame, disgust, and confusion, and you don’t know you ended up with a How here?”