Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial finally
to begin in earnest
British socialite faces six counts alleging that she
helped recruit and groom teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse
Victoria
Bekiempis
Sun 28 Nov
2021 06.00 GMT
Ghislaine
Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial is scheduled to start in earnest in federal
court in Manhattan on Monday with opening statements about the eagerly awaited
case.
The first
arguments will set the stage for a six-week trial in which the British
socialite’s alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes will be aired in
grueling detail, outlining how prosecutors and defense attorneys will approach
the proceedings.
Maxwell,
59, stands accused of recruiting and grooming girls for the late disgraced
financier, from 1994 to 2004, some of whom were just 14 years old. Epstein’s
sometime girlfriend is also accused of participating in his sexual abuse of
teenage girls.
Epstein
killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail on 10 August 2019, while awaiting
his own sex-trafficking trial. Maxwell was arrested on 2 July 2020 in New
Hampshire, a year after Epstein’s arrest.
“From the
prosecution, you’d expect that they would lay out their case and give a preview
of the type of evidence that’s going to come in, and a preview of who the
witnesses will be, and they’re going to want to try to lay out their whole
story of their case,” said Jennifer Louis-Jeune, a veteran defense attorney in
New York, of what to expect in the first days of Maxwell’s trial.
“The
defense usually holds back a little bit more in an opening statement because we
don’t know what all the evidence is, and we just want the jury to really be
thinking critically when they listen to each witness – and to not take what the
witness says as being the truth just because they’re on the stand, and to think
of how all the witnesses fit together.”
David S
Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor who now works on white-collar criminal
defense at the firm Hinshaw & Culbertson, said prosecutors would be careful
about what they tell jurors during openings.
“As a
prosecutor, you don’t want to over-promise,” Weinstein said. “Although you’ve
planned your case out, things can happen in the middle of a case, objections
can get raised, issues can get clouded.
“And so
that creates a reasonable doubt,” Weinstein said, allowing the defense to say:
“They didn’t sustain the burden of proof.”
Maxwell is
on trial on six counts: conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in
illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex
acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual
activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual
activity, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor.
The counts
cite four accusers – listed in the indictment as Minor Victim-1, Minor
Victim-2, Minor Victim-3 and Minor Victim-4 – though more are expected to
testify.
Maxwell
also faces charges for lying under oath. Federal prosecutors have said Maxwell
tried to hide her participation in Epstein’s acts, stating false information
“under oath” during civil litigation. That litigation was the defamation case
in which th Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre sued Maxwell.
Giuffre
alleges Epstein and Maxwell forced her into sex with Prince Andrew when she was
17. Giuffre filed suit against Maxwell for saying she was a liar. Maxwell has
insisted she is innocent of all wrongdoing; the Duke of York adamantly insists
on his innocence too. Maxwell will be tried separately for allegedly lying
under oath, meaning Giuffre’s claims will not be part of the upcoming
proceedings in New York.
Prosecutors
allege that Maxwell met Minor Victim-1 when the girl was about 14 and
interacted with her at Epstein’s homes. From about 1994 to 1997, the indicment
alleges, Maxwell “groomed Minor Victim-1 to engage in sexual acts with Epstein
through multiple means” and “sought to normalize inappropriate and abusive
conduct by, among other things, undressing in front of Minor Victim-1 and being
present when Minor Victim-1 undressed in front of Epstein”.
“Maxwell
was present for and involved in some of this abuse,” charging papers say.
Minor
Victim-2 and Maxwell are alleged to have interacted in 1996 at Epstein’s New
Mexico property. The teen had come from out of state “at Epstein’s invitation
for the purpose of being groomed for and/or subjected to acts of sexual abuse”,
court papers say. Maxwell is alleged to have known the girl was under 18.
Maxwell is
alleged to have started to groom the girl for Epstein’s abuse “by, among other
things, providing an unsolicited massage to Minor Victim-2, during which Minor
Victim- 2 was topless”. In addition, Maxwell is alleged to have “encouraged
Minor Victim- 2 to massage Epstein”.
In this
courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell looks over her shoulder to the courtroom
audience prior to the start of jury selection in her trial, Tuesday, Nov. 16,
2021, in New York. Prospective jurors got their first glimpse of Maxwell, the
British socialite charged with helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls and
women, when a judge began questioning them individually Tuesday. (AP
Photo/Elizabeth Williams)
From 1994
to 1995, Maxwell allegedly targeted Minor Victim-3 in London, which included a
time where she knew the victim was below 18. She is alleged to have introduced
the girl to Epstein, arranging “multiple interactions” during which Maxwell
urged the girl to massage him. Maxwell knew Epstein would sexually abuse the
minor during these encounters, court papers maintain.
Minor
Victim-4 was lured into Epstein’s orbit to give Epstein sexualized massages and
was paid by his employees, Maxwell among them. She and Maxwell met in 2001,
when the teen was 14. Maxwell and other Epstein associates are alleged to have
called her to schedule times for her to massage the financier.
While
Epstein looms large over proceedings against Maxwell, it is unlikely that all
of his acts will be revealed in court. Judge Alison Nathan’s rulings have
indicated that she does not want Maxwell’s trial to turn into a referendum on
whether she is being targeted because Epstein cannot face justice in death.
Maxwell,
who maintains her innocence, faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted.
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