Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Closing arguments begin as jury weighs verdict

The jury in Ghislaine Maxwell‘s sex abuse trial began deliberations on Monday, on whether the British socialite set up adolescent females to have sexual meetings with late financier Jeffrey Epstein or if she is a scapegoat for him.

Between 1994 and 2004, Maxwell, 59, is accused of recruiting and grooming four underage girls for Epstein. Those accusers, who are now in their 30s or 40s, testified that Maxwell made touching Epstein feel natural to them, and that she personally touched their bodies on occasion.

Also read: Ghislaine Maxwell won’t testify at her sex trafficking trial

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to allegations of sex trafficking and other offences and has been on trial in federal court in Manhattan for three weeks. While awaiting trial on sex assault accusations, Epstein committed suicide in a detention cell in 2019 at the age of 66.

Before deliberations began, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan addressed the 12 jurors and five alternates, “Your function is to weigh the evidence in the case and to determine whether or not the government has proved that Ms. Maxwell is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

On Monday, jurors deliberated for just over an hour before returning to work on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Alison Moe claimed in her closing argument earlier on Monday that Maxwell was Epstein’s “partner in crime.” She claimed that Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and employee, saw assisting Epstein in abusing teenage girls as a way to preserve her affluent lifestyle.

Also read: Accuser says Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein violated her at age 16

Maxwell’s presence, according to Moe, made young girls feel safe spending time with Epstein. Receiving an invitation to be with a middle-aged man would have been “creepy” and “set off alarm bells” if it had come from anybody else, Moe said.

“Epstein could not have done this alone,” Moe said. “When that man is accompanied by a posh, smiling, respectable, age-appropriate woman, that’s when everything starts to seem legitimate. And when that woman … acts like it’s totally normal for that man to touch those girls, it lures them into a trap.”

Laura Menninger, Maxwell’s defence counsel, maintained that Maxwell was a “innocent woman” who had been singled out by prosecutors because Epstein was no longer living.

Also read: Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein were ‘partners in crime’: Prosecutor

She said that the women’s memories had been tainted over time and that they were motivated to incriminate Maxwell by financial gain. All four women claimed to have received millions of dollars from Epstein’s estate’s victims’ compensation fund.

During cross-examination, the defence grilled the women about why they didn’t name Maxwell during their initial interactions with law enforcement authorities regarding Epstein.

“They all changed their stories when the Epstein victims’ compensation fund was opened up,” Menninger told the jury. “That should make you hesitate.”