Jury to resume deliberations in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial

Jurors in Ghislaine Maxwell‘s sex trafficking trial are poised to begin their first full day of deliberations Tuesday in federal court in New York, after deliberating for less than an hour on Monday. 

Maxwell, 59, has pled not guilty to six federal charges, including sex trafficking of minors, encouraging a juvenile to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conveying a kid with the intent to engage in criminal sexual behaviour, and three conspiracy offences. She faces up to 70 years in jail if convicted on all six counts.

The deliberations come at the close of a three-week trial that included testimony from four women who claimed that Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused them and that Maxwell, his former lover and longtime companion, aided and abetted the abuse. The alleged sexual abuse occurred when the women were under the age of 18, and the allegations spanned the years 1994 to 2004.

Also Read | Accuser says Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein violated her at age 16

Epstein, the mysterious millionaire who pled guilty to state prostitution charges in 2008, was charged on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 but committed suicide a month later in prison. Maxwell was captured in 2020 and has been detained in custody ever since, under constant surveillance.

“Jane” testified at trial that Maxwell planned sexual massages with Epstein and that he occasionally participated in the assault. “Kate” testified that Maxwell arranged the sexual encounters. Furthermore,  Carolyn testified that when she was 14, Maxwell grabbed her breasts, hips, and butt and told her she “had a great body for Epstein and his friends.” Finally, Annie Farmer testified that she was 16 years old when Maxwell massaged her naked chest in 1996 at Epstein’s property in New Mexico. 

Also Read | Meeting Ghislaine Maxwell led to years of sex with Epstein, says accuser

The three conspiracy accusations stem from statements made by all four accusers, though “Kate’s” and Farmer’s testimony cannot be utilised on its own. The luring and transporting counts pertain to “Jane’s” testimony, and the juvenile sex trafficking accusation, which is the most serious of the allegations, pertains to Carolyn’s.

Maxwell’s strong friendship with Epstein and deceptive activities, according to the prosecution, were vital to the international abuse plot at his residences in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and the US Virgin Islands.

“A single middle-aged man who invites a teenage girl to visit his ranch, to come to his house, to fly to New York, is creepy,” prosecutor Allison Moe told jurors. “But 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 encourages those girls to massage that man, when she acts like it’s totally normal for the man to touch those girls. It lures them into a trap. It allows the man to silence the alarm bells.”

Long cross-examinations of the four accusers were used by the defence to undermine their motivations and memories of the claimed incidents. Maxwell turned down the opportunity to testify in her own defence. 

Attorney Laura Menninger used her closing statement to disassociate Maxwell from Epstein, implying that he had also corrupted her. She claimed the prosecution’s evidence is based on conjecture and distracting images of Maxwell with Epstein, including some that show her massaging his feet.

“She’s being tried here for being with Jeffrey Epstein, and maybe that was the biggest mistake of her life, but it was not a crime,” Menninger told the jury.

Menninger then went over each accuser’s testimony, pointing out inconsistencies in their timeframes and earlier interviews with law police, including the fact that two of the victims, Carolyn and “Jane”, failed to mention Maxwell. The lawyer speculated that they misremembered what transpired and that they may have altered their tales for financial gain.

“Why would you go decades without mentioning Ghislaine Maxwell and suddenly, when you have your personal injury lawyer, you add her to the mix?” Menninger said.

In a rebuttal, prosecutor Maurene Comey dismissed those claims, alluding to the broader societal and economic causes at play in this case.

“The defendant never thought that those teenage girls would have the strength to report what happened. In her eyes, they were just trash beneath her,” she said. “Those girls would never stand up to a power couple like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And if they did, who would believe them?”