Ghislaine Maxwell trial: What we’ve learned so far from inside the courtroom
The Ghislaine Maxwell trial began with a sentence that attempted to distill the complex case which spans decades and jurisdictions, and pierces the normally secretive world of America’s ultra wealthy elite.
“I want to tell you about a young girl named Jane,” prosecutor Lara Pomerantz told the jury of five men and seven women.
The US federal government’s case against Ms Maxwell, 59, centres around her decades-long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It alleges she operated as his enabler in luring vulnerable teenage girls with promises of scholarships, attention and financial assistance for their families, and coerced them into becoming objects for his sexual gratification.
This later expanded to a “pyramid scheme of abuse”, according to prosecutors, in which young girls already in Epstein’s orbit would offer to recruit classmates and friends with the promise of easy money.
Ms Maxwell faces six charges: one each of enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking of a minor, and three counts of conspiracy related to the other counts.
She has denied all the charges. Epstein died at age 66 while awaiting trial.
Day one: A tale of two opening arguments
After delays over jury selection and availability in the morning, opening arguments began in the afternoon with p rosecutor Lara Pomerantz portraying Ms Maxwell as a predator who manipulated young girls and “served them up to be sexually abused”.
“They made these girls feel seen,” she said, seemingly adopting the youthful language of the teenagers she was describing.
From behind a plastic box in the middle of the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan, Ms Pomerantz thrust out an arm as she pointed Ms Maxwell out to the jury.
The prosecution’s strategy soon became apparent, as Ms Pomerantz repeated Epstein’s name time and again, and used the phrase “the defendant and Epstein” more than a dozen more times.
Epstein has become an emblem of evil in the years since his arrest on underage sex abuse and trafficking charges. He and Ms Maxwell, the “older, purportedly respectable woman”, were “partners in crime”, equally culpable in the prosecution’s telling for the unspeakable crimes that had allegedly been committed.
Even though Ms Maxwell was the only individual on trial, she would serve as Epstein’s proxy, after many saw the 66-year-old’s suicide in prison while awaiting trial as another escape from justice.
Defence attorney Bobbi Sternheim opened with fire and brimstone, using a biblical reference to Adam and Eve to argue that women had been blamed for the evils of men ever since the Garden of Eden.
“The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are for things that Jeffrey Epstein did, but she is not Jeffrey Epstein,” Ms Sternheim said.
Ms Sternheim also made a puzzling reference to James Bond, telling the court of Epstein: “In many regards, he was like a 21st-century James Bond. His mystery has stirred interest.”
She made a point of saying the four defence lawyers, who are being paid as much as $7m, are proud to represent the much-maligned 59-year-old.
The case would hinge on three things; Memory, manipulation and money.
Ms Sternheim had her own story to tell about a young girl named Jane, who she revealed was a successful actor now in her early 40s who had appeared in soap operas, movies, and reality TV shows.
“She is a consummate actress. She is a pro at playing roles. And as her scripts and characters change, so has her story that you will hear in this courtroom,” Ms Sternheim said.
She went on to attack the credibility of the other three accusers, Annie Farmer, and two others who like Jane would testify under the pseudonyms Kate and Carolyn.
Ms Sternheim claimed each had changed their story over the years under duress from the FBI or in the hope of securing a payout from a victim’s fund set up by Epstein’s estate after he died.
She listed the exact dollar figure payouts the women had received, ranging from $1.5 million to $5m, before legal fees were factored in.
Towards the end of the day, the prosecution called its first witness – Epstein’s longtime personal pilot Larry Visoski.
Day two: The pilot and the paedophile
Mr Visoski resumed his testimony on Tuesday morning, telling of flying Epstein and a coterie of famous individuals all over the globe in two of Epstein’s personal private jets, a Gulfstream G550, and a Boeing 727.
Former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, disgraced actor Kevin Spacey and Prince Andrew all flew aboard the so-called Lolita Express, a nickname given to the larger Boeing plane purchased by Epstein in 2000, according the pilot’s testimony.
As well as being a pilot, Mr Visoski enjoyed a 25-year friendship with Epstein and offered a revealing glimpse inside the late paedophile’s homes and routines.
Epstein was constantly on the move between mansions in New York, Palm Beach, New Mexico, his private island in the US Virgin Islands, Little Saint James, and his apartment in Paris, the pilot said.
Mr Visoski took the jurors on a tour of each of Epstein’s opulent homes, describing in detail the layouts, features and character of each based on the numerous times he had stayed in them over the years, and the fact he had installed home entertainment systems and movie theaters in each.
Mr Visoski also flew helicopters for Epstein. When bringing Epstein and guests to the Virgin Islands, he would fly the jet into the main island of St Thomas and then transport the passengers the roughly 18 kms by helicopter, landing on a private helipad on the island. Ms Maxwell would also fly the helicopter on occasion, he said.
Mr Visoski also remembered flying Jane, who he said appeared to be a “mature woman” with “piercing blue powder eyes”.
He also denied ever seeing any sexual impropriety either on flights or in Epstein’s homes. As the father of two girls who met and spent time with Epstein and Ms Maxwell, he said he would have quit his job and made sure his daughters never saw them again had he been aware of the abuse of minors.
Day two afternoon session: ‘Jane’ takes the stand
Striding confidently to the witness box on Tuesday afternoon, Jane removed her mask only after Judge Alison Nathan had ordered the court sketchers they were not to draw her likeness.
Her testimony began with her meeting Epstein and Ms Maxwell aged 14 at the Interlochin Center for the Arts, a summer school in Michigan for gifted musicians and actors.
Jane said Epstein told her he was a major donor to the school that gave out scholarships to gifted arts students.
“He seemed very interested to know what I thought about the camp, what my favourite classes were.”
When they heard Jane was also from Palm Beach Florida, where Epstein owned a waterfront mansion, he asked for her mother’s phone number.
Jane told how she was grieving the death of her father, a renowned composer, seven months earlier. The death had forced the family to sell its home, and she was sleeping in a bed with her mother in a pool house at a friend’s house at the time she met Epstein.
On her first few visits she was dazzled by the palatial mansion, and says Epstein would boast about his money and connections.
Ms Maxwell was a quirky, sisterly figure, who occasionally shocked Jane by bathing topless and telling her vulgar stories, she said.
Jane testified that the sexual abuse first took place when she was alone with Epstein, and later graduated to involve Ms Maxwell, and later on other, older women.
She said she was flown in Epstein’s private jet to New York and Santa Fe, where she was forced to perform sadomaschistic sex acts on Epstein.
When prosecutor Alison Moe asked how the abuse had affected her, she said: “How do you navigate a healthy relationship with a broken compass? I didn’t even understand what real love is supposed to look like.”
Jane’s marathon cross-examination from Laura Menninger, which alleged she had repeatedly changed her story, and was motivated by financial gain, began late on Tuesday afternoon.
Day three: Defense attorneys attempt to punch holes in Jane’s testimony, and reveal Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump
Jane’s recollections of Ms Maxwell’s involvement in her sexual abuse came under an hours-long attack during aggressive cross-examination from Ms Menninger on Wednesday.
Ms Menninger repeatedly confronted Jane with statements she had made to the FBI over more than 10 interviews between 2019 and 2021, drilling down into alleged inconsistencies between the interviews and Jane’s testimony in court.
The experienced defence attorney said law enforcement notes of conversations suggested Jane was uncertain over whether Ms Maxwell had actually touched or kissed her, contrasting them to the vivid account she gave the jury of the socialite’s alleged participation in sexualised massages and abuse with Epstein.
The testimony became a stop-start affair as Ms Moe, for the prosecution, made a string of objections. She claimed the defence was deliberately trying to confuse Jane with a vague line of questioning that didn’t clearly state whether she was being asked to recall a memory or what she had told the FBI.
Jane remained largely composed, delivering repeated “I don’t recall” responses to the defense’s questioning.
“Memory is not linear,” Jane added.
Ms Menninger sought to portray her courtroom testimony as yet another acting role in Jane’s career.
She asked Jane about her role on a long-running television soap opera, and described the many plot lines the character had been involved in, including being stalked by a serial killer, working as a prostitute and taking down a Mexican drug cartel.
When the prosecution was able to question Jane again, Ms Moe asked her if she was “acting here today”.
Recalling her first interview with the FBI, Jane said it had been difficult to tell a roomful of strangers “the most shameful, deepest secrets that I’ve been carrying around with me my whole life”.
She broke down as she told how she had gradually become more comfortable recounting her story, and began to feel like she could trust government investigators.
“This is something that I have been running from my entire life. I’m just tired of it,” she said.
Ms Menninger had asked Jane about a trip she took with Epstein to Mar-a-Lago when she was 14 years old.
Ms Meninger continued: “He took you in a dark green car, and you met Donald Trump, correct?”
“Yes,” Jane replied.
Ms Menninger asked if Jane could recall being on Epstein’s private planes with a “number of individuals”, including Prince Andrew, which Jane said was accurate.
She said she also met Epstein’s brother Mark Epstein and his former personal chef, Los Angeles-based celebrity chef Adam Perry Lang, on flights on his private jets.
Jane added that she was never ordered to have sex with Epstein’s associates or to recruit other girls.
Day four: Epstein’s Palm Beach housekeeper says Maxwell was ‘the lady of the house’
Juan Alessi, who helped run Epstein’s Palm Beach estate from 1991 to 2002, took the stand on Thursday and made a series of stunning revelations about the inner workings of the waterfront mansion at 358 El Brillo Way.
Mr Alessi was a live-in housekeeper who also acted as a cleaner, chef, driver and handyman at the property.
He initially enjoyed a cordial relationship with Epstein, but says his wealthy boss grew more distant over the years, and handed over day-to-day running of the household to Ms Maxwell.
He told the jury of the “degrading” working conditions imposed on staff by the “lady of the house”.
She would sometimes give staff only a couple of hours notice that she and Epstein would be visiting, sending them into a panic as they would begin the “extensive preparation” stipulated in a 58-page household manual distributed to staff.
The tasks included making sure Epstein’s fleet of luxury vehicles were stocked with “100-dollar bills in every car”.
Under a section titled “Grooming and guest relations”, they were told: “See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing, except to answer a question directed to you.”
Mr Alessi said the 58-page booklet was “a kind of warning that I was supposed to be blind, deaf and dumb, to say nothing of their lives”.
Staff were told not to look at Epstein when they spoke to him.
Under questioning from prosecutor Maurene Comey, Alessi told how Epstein would receive three massages a day from different women - in the morning, afternoon and late at night.
He would often find sex toys wile cleaning up after Epstein’s massages.
“I remember finding a large dildo,” Mr Alessi told the court. “It looked like a huge man’s penis with two heads.”
He wouldwash the sex toys and place them in a basket which also contained pornographic tapes and a leather black costume.
Mr Alessi was also able to corroborate key parts of the testimony heard earlier in the trial from the witness known as Jane.
He testified that he picked up Jane from outside her school and home and drove her to the Palm Beach estate.
This took place sometime around 1994 he said, and Jane would have been 14 years old.
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