The intercourse abuse trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell enters its second week on Monday after jurors final week heard the testimony of a girl who says Maxwell set her up for abuse by late financier Jeffrey Epstein when she was an adolescent.
Prosecutors are anticipated to name three different accusers within the trial in New York, which is ready to final by January. Maxwell, 59, stands accused of recruiting and grooming 4 underage ladies for abuse by Epstein between 1994 and 2004, and faces eight counts of intercourse trafficking and different fees.
In tearful and specific testimony in federal court docket, the primary accuser – identified by the pseudonym Jane – stated Epstein abused her starting when she was 14 within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. Maxwell generally participated within the encounters, Jane stated.
Maxwell, a daughter of late British media baron Robert Maxwell, has pleaded not responsible. Her attorneys have questioned the 4 accusers’ credibility and argue prosecutors are solely focusing on Maxwell as a result of Epstein is not alive.
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Ghislaine Maxwell was ‘woman’ of Epstein’s mansion, ex-staffer says in trial
The well-connected, globetrotting investor killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell on the age of 66 in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on intercourse abuse fees.
In the course of the trial’s first week, jurors additionally heard from Epstein’s longtime private pilot, who recalled Britain’s Prince Andrew and former U.S. Presidents Invoice Clinton and Donald Trump flying on Epstein’s aircraft. Jane stated Epstein launched her to Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership when she was 14.
Neither Prince Andrew, Clinton nor Trump have been accused of wrongdoing.
Jurors had been additionally proven a inexperienced therapeutic massage desk that police seized from Epstein’s Palm Seashore property throughout a 2005 search. Jane stated lots of her sexual encounters with Epstein started as massages. Prosecutors say the phrase therapeutic massage was a “ruse” to get underage ladies in a room with Epstein.