Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, alleged “tout” of Jeffrey Epstein kicks off

Published on : 11/29/2021 – 11:35 PM

Two years after the suicide in prison of billionaire accused of numerous sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein, the trial of his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell began Monday, November 29 in New York.

The daughter of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, 59, has been detained in the United States since the summer of 2020 and faces life in prison after debates that are to last six weeks, for the twelve jurors to determine whether she participated in the vast sex trafficking of which the businessman, who died in prison in 2019, was accused.

Concretely, she is suspected of having played the role of “tout”, by recruiting between 1994 and 2004 young underage girls sexually exploited by Jeffrey Epstein, with whom she maintained for nearly 30 years a loving, friendly and professional relationship.

She “was dangerous. She prepared young girls to be attacked by a predator” by putting them at ease, in confidence, and by pretending to give them importance, described the prosecutor Lara Pomerantz while opening the debates. . But one of Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers, Bobbi Sternheim, on the contrary depicted her as “the target of the anger of women, who have been or who think they have been abused by Epstein”, largely absent from the trial.

Restless

In the courtroom of Manhattan Federal Court, Ghislaine Maxwell, a former socialite born into a privileged background, appeared restless in her beige sweater, removing and then removing her glasses, often touching her face and passing many notes to her. lawyers.

The Franco-American-Briton, who complained about her conditions of detention, said she was innocent and pleaded not guilty to the six charges. She should not speak at the hearing.

His defense should argue that the alleged crimes go back more than 20 years – a psychologist will enlighten the court on the phenomenon of “false memories” – and especially that Ghislaine Maxwell is tried instead of the main protagonist, Jeffrey Epstein.

For its part, the accusation is based on four anonymous plaintiffs – two of whom were only 14 and 15 years old – who say they were approached by “touts”, including Ghislaine Maxwell, near their school or at their work.

Massage

After the cinema and shopping “with girlfriends”, the young girls were persuaded, for a few hundred dollars, to come and give a massage, presented as non-sexual, to a powerful New Yorker ready to take their career off the ground.

“She earned their trust” but “she knew exactly what Epstein was going to do to her children when she sent them to her massage rooms,” said the prosecutor, who referred to the “nightmare” of the victims.

According to the prosecution, Ghislaine Maxwell would also have participated in the sexual assaults with her companion, either at her home in London, or at his home in Manhattan, Florida and New Mexico.

“For my client (…) there would have been no Jeffrey Epstein without Ghislaine Maxwell (…) It was like a drug dealer who brought his drugs to Epstein, and his drugs were young girls” , said in court Lisa Bloom, lawyer for several alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein, including one also of Ghislaine Maxwell.

With AFP