Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been accused of asking a British women, who has testified in court, to find “cute, young, pretty” girls for Jeffrey Epstein, a media tycoon accused of paedophilia.
Between 1994 and 2004, Ms Maxwell, 59, groomed teenage girls for abuse by the late Epstein, according to the complaint. She has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges levelled against her.
The socialite befriended the accuser when she was 17 and frequently pressured her into “fun”, according to the accuser.
Before the trial concludes, two more women are expected to testify.
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Since her arrest last year, Ms Maxwell, who holds British, American, and French citizenship, has been held in a US jail. If convicted, she could face up to 80 years in prison.
Last week, a woman identified only as Jane wept as she described sexual encounters with Epstein when she was 14, adding that Ms Maxwell occasionally participated and acted “as if it wasn’t a big deal”.
The witness using the pseudonym Kate said in Monday’s testimony, describing how Ms Maxwell laid out a schoolgirl outfit on her guest room bed and said, “I thought it would be fun for you to take Jeffrey his tea in this outfit.”
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She claimed she wore the outfit and had sex with Epstein.
The women to have Ms Maxwell when she was a teenager in Paris in 1994. The judge instructed the jury that the sexual encounters were not to be considered illegal sex acts because she was over the age of consent in Britain at the time.
Kate, now 44, testified in court that Ms Maxwell’s elegance and sophistication immediately drew her in. “She was very impressive … everything that I wanted to be.”
Ms Maxwell talked about her “philanthropist” boyfriend who liked to help young people over tea at her London home. Kate was just starting out in the music industry and was overjoyed to meet “a new friend”.
She met Epstein within weeks and, at Ms Maxwell’s request, gave him massages that turned into sex.
Ms Maxwell would compliment her “strong hands”, refer to her as a “good girl”, and ask if she was having “fun”.
Ms Maxwell, according to the witness, frequently turned the conversation to sexual topics and described Epstein as a “demanding” man who required sex three times a day.
She continued, “because it was a lot for her to do,” the socialite once asked if she knew anyone who could perform sex acts on Epstein.
Kate recalled, “She said, ‘You know what he likes: cute, young, pretty, like you.’
She said she never helped find other women, but admits she communicated with Epstein into her 30s, fearful of what would happen if she did not.”
“I had witnessed how connected they both were,” she said.
Separately, Ms Maxwell’s family members wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday, complaining about her mistreatment in custody.
“Ghislaine’s physical welfare and her right to have proper and timely access to her counsel during the trial have been entirely overlooked,” they wrote.
The wealthy British woman’s lawyers claim she is being made a scapegoat for Epstein’s crimes.
Ms Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight sex trafficking counts as well as other charges.
Epstein died in a New York prison cell on August 10, 2019, while awaiting a federal sex-trafficking trial. His death ruled out as suicide.