The defense of Ghislaine Mawxell, tried in New York for sex trafficking, tried Thursday to discredit a victim of this former British socialite who was the partner of American financier Jeffrey Epstein accused of sex crimes and died in prison in 2019.
Before the jury of the Manhattan federal court on trial since November 29, Maxwell’s lawyers began Thursday morning to call witnesses, in the hope of convincing that their client played no criminal role with the wealthy Epstein.
Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, – British, American and French and daughter of press magnate Robert Maxwell -, is accused of having provided underage girls from 1994 to 2004 to her former companion and collaborator so that he sexually exploited.
The one who is accused of being a “tout” has been detained in New York since her arrest in the summer of 2020, a year after the suicide in prison of the financier, who had deprived dozens of victims of trial. She pleads not guilty to all counts, for which she faces life imprisonment.
– Coaxed –
She has not expressed herself once at her trial, where she seems rather at ease, in particular by exchanging with her lawyers.
The latter had Cimberly Espinosa, 55, testify in the morning, who was recruited in 1996 as an assistant to Epstein’s legal team, before working after a month with Maxwell until 2002.
Ms Espinosa tried to discredit one of the four alleged victims of Epstein who was the first to testify on November 30 under the pseudonym “Jane” by recounting that she was coaxed at the age of 14 by the couple Epstein-Maxwell , before sexually abusing her.
According to Espinosa, “Jane” came to Epstein’s office regularly and her “relationship” with the financier was “in love”.
Still according to the same testimony, the mother and brothers of “Jane” were also regularly invited to Epstein’s, in particular in Manhattan, the young girl being regarded as a member of “the family” and treated “with the greatest respect”.
– “Terrified” –
On the contrary, “Jane” had told the Manhattan court of the sexual assaults she had suffered from the couple from 1994: “I was frozen with fear (…), I was terrified and I I felt disgusting. I was ashamed “, she had often testified in tears.
Maxwell’s defense must also bring in a psychologist specializing in “truncated memories”, Elizabeth Loftus, to point out that the victims’ testimonies are a quarter of a century old and likely to be inaccurate.
Four women – “Jane”, “Kate”, “Carolyn” and Annie Farmer, 42, the only one to speak without a pseudonym – have recounted over the past two weeks their lives damaged by forced sex with Epstein, when ‘they were minors and often in the presence of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Annie Farmer told the same scenario as the three other victims: a first warm meeting with Mawxell who proposed to these 14 to 17-year-old girls, fragile and penniless, to meet Epstein under the pretext of helping them financially.
After an initial invitation to Epstein’s villa in Palm Beach (Florida), New Mexico or New York, the young girls were encouraged by Maxwell to undress, then to give Epstein massages which ended irreparably with sexual acts.
– 300 dollars the sexual act –
Relationships have for some lasted years with the Epstein-Maxwell couple and one of the witnesses said that she was paid $ 300 for each act of sex.
The main argument of Maxwell’s lawyers is that their client is appearing only because the real culprit, Jeffrey Epstein, committed suicide in prison in the summer of 2019, aged 66.
The multimillionaire was convicted in Florida in 2008 for paying young girls for massages. But he had only served 13 months in prison following a confidential agreement with the prosecutor at the time.
Another shadow hangs over the Maxwell trial: that of British Prince Andrew, a close friend of Epstein, the target since August of a civil complaint in New York for “sexual assault” filed by an American, Virginia Giuffre.
This complaint should be examined at the end of 2022 even if the second son of Queen Elizabeth II is not prosecuted in criminal proceedings and denies these facts which would have taken place between 2000 and 2002, when Virginia Giuffre was a minor.
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