(New York) New testimony at the trial in New York for sex trafficking of minors by Ghislaine Maxwell on Monday shed light on the role of the former socialite with the wealthy American financier Jeffrey Epstein, whom she was responsible for providing young women according to the prosecution.
Aged 17 at the time of the facts, or above the legal age of consent, the case of “Kate”, authorized to testify under a pseudonym, could not be used to find Ghislaine Maxwell guilty, said Judge Alison Nathan to the jurors. She was, however, one of the four victims cited by prosecutors in the indictment.
PHOTO ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
This court drawing shows a woman testifying under the pseudonym ‘Kate’, right, being cross-examined by Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, left, during Maxwell’s sexual abuse trial on Monday, December 6 2021, in New York. Judge Alison Nathan is in the center.
Like the first victim who recounted last week the sexual abuse of Jeffrey Epstein when she was only 14 years old, this witness confirmed the role played by the defendant, tried for having recruited from 1994 to 2004 of underage girls in order to make them available to the American financier who died in prison in 2019.
Crimes she refutes and for which the daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell and former figure of the international jet set pleads not guilty in federal court in Manhattan.
“How to refuse”
It is a former boyfriend who had introduced “Kate” to Ghislaine Maxwell, in Paris, around 1994, she recalled.
At the time, “Kate” lived in London with her ailing mother and dreamed of a career in the entertainment world.
“She was sophisticated and very elegant… she was very impressive […], I thought I had found someone who could be very important to me, ”she explained.
The two women meet again in London and Ghislaine Maxwell mentions her friend whom she describes as a philanthropist, “someone who likes to help young people”.
“She promised me that he would like me very much […] I was 17, I was alone, I didn’t have a group of friends, ”added“ Kate ”.
A few weeks later, Ghislaine Maxwell invited him to her London residence to meet Mr. Epstein. She asks him to give the businessman a first foot and shoulder massage. Then, a few weeks later again, a new invitation. This time, Jeffrey Epstein undresses in a dark room, where there is a massage table, before Ghislaine Maxwell leaves the room and closes the door. According to “Kate”, the massage turned into a sexual act.
“I didn’t know how to refuse,” the witness told jurors, saying she continued to see the couple at Epstein’s residences in Palm Beach (Florida), New York or in the Caribbean. “I didn’t want to admit what was happening to me […] I was afraid to leave because I knew how connected they had, ”added“ Kate ”.
Prince Andrew et Trump
Ghislaine Maxwell “seemed to know everyone […] She told me that she had Prince Andrew and Donald Trump for friends, ”she continued.
According to “Kate”, the accused asked her if she did not know other girls. “You see what he likes, pretty and young like you,” she would have told him. In the residences of Jeffrey Epstein, she had crossed other girls, of which “one looked really much younger than me”.
Seeming to want to pull the rug out from under the defense, the prosecution questioned “Kate” about an addiction to alcohol, cocaine and sleeping pills, to which she replied that she was no longer taking any. since May 2003.
“The memories I have of important events in my life have not changed,” she replied.
She also said she received $ 3.25 million from the “Epstein Fund,” an official redress mechanism drawn from the multimillionaire’s fortune after his death.
His defense cross-examination began Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell’s family have written to United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland asking that prison officials stop using four-point shackles to shackle his hands, waist and feet when ‘she is transferred from a holding cell to the courtroom. Her family also requested that she receive a basket of food and a bar of soap every day.