Prosecution rests case in Ghislaine Maxwell trial
Prosecutors in the Ghislaine Maxwell sex abuse trial rested their case on Friday after a fourth accuser testified that the British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein both touched her when she was 16 years old.
Annie Farmer, now 42, said she felt "frozen" when Epstein crawled into bed with her at his New Mexico ranch, and recalled thinking: "I just need to get through this."
Farmer, who believed Epstein would help pay for her college education, also said she agreed to receive a massage from Maxwell at the ranch, during which Maxwell touched her breasts, and said she felt Epstein was watching nearby, though she could not see him.
Under cross-examination, Maxwell's attorney asked Farmer if her account of the New Mexico trip was a "reconstructed memory."
Farmer said she had conducted internet searches and had spoken with friends about other events that happened around the time of her trip to refresh her memory on exactly when the trip took place.
Maxwell's attorneys have argued that, in the decades since the alleged abuse occurred, the accusers' memories have been corrupted.
Three other women have testified that Maxwell encouraged them to give Epstein massages that would escalate into sexual encounters.
The 59-year-old faces eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges for her alleged role in recruiting and grooming four teenagers for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. She has pleaded not guilty.
