By Aaron Miller-
Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, after an extended period of deliberation by the jury.
The former socialite and ex-girlfriend of billionaire financier Epstein is now facing several years in prison.
A federal jury in Manhattan found Ms. Maxwell, 60, guilty of sex trafficking and the four other charges against her, but she was acquitted of one count of enticing a minor to travel across state lines to engage in an illegal sexual act.
The trial lasted 13 days, and the presiding judge gave jurors as much time as they needed to arrive at their verdict – with a number of jurors requesting transcripts to assist a more thorough recollection of particular details.
The jury acquitted Maxwell of one count , the second count which charged her with enticing a minor to travel with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. This count also related to the accuser referred to in court only as Jane, the first of four accusers who testified for the testimonies from 33 witnesses, most of which painted the picture of a manipulator who used her power and connections for her own selfish gain.
The prosecution accused Maxwell had recruited teenage girls and served them up to Epstein on a platter to be abused. The British socialite was also accused of preying on vulnerable young girls and luring them to massage rooms to be molested by Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
Her lawyers portrayed her as a charismatic and generous boss admired by younger women working for her and Epstein. They also claimed that women claiming to have fallen victim to her have false memories or are just not telling the truth.
Ghislaine Maxwell was born with a silver spoon, the daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, who owned the UK’s Mirror newspapers and the New York Daily News. She met Epstein after moving to New York following her father’s demise in 1991. It should have been a fresh new life of continuous splendour and and infinite contentment, instead the rotten influence of evil company had its way.
One woman, Annie Farmer, waived her anonymity, another took the stand using only her first name, Carolyn, while two others, Jane and Kate, testified under a pseudonym.
She claimed she was flown to his sprawling ranch in New Mexico under the impression it was part of a scholarship programme with dozens of other students, but arrived to find she was there alone, apart from Epstein and Maxwell.
Annie Farmer said Maxwell instructed her how to give a foot massage to Epstein and later massaged Ms Farmer’s ‘chest and upper breasts’.
Carolyn, who was from a disadvantaged family in Florida’s West Palm Beach, broke down before the court, as she told the court she was sexually abused by Epstein and Maxwell from the age of 14.
She said that she would be paid $200 a time to give Epstein massages, which would always end with sexual contact. Carolyn said on one occasion Maxwell had groped her “boobs, hips and buttocks” before telling her she had a “good body for Mr Epstein and his friends”.
Jane was the first of the accusers to testify and said she met Maxwell aged 14 while at a performing arts summer camp. She said Maxwell befriended her and normalised sexual behaviour by using lewd language around her.
She alleged that Epstein used sex toys on her, and she said she was made to participate in group sex that centred around Epstein and sometimes involved Maxwell, too. She told the jury she was flown to New York and New Mexico to spend time with the pair at Epstein’s lavish homes.
Maxwell has spent almost a year and a half in prison in New York, and she and her family have repeatedly complained about the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.
Her older brother, Kevin Maxwell, had addressed journalists outside court in the middle of the trial, claiming his sister’s legs were left bruised and bleeding from the shackles she was forced to wear around her ankles while being transported to court every morning.
The defence claimed in vain that she was being scapegoated for the crimes of Epstein, who died by apparent suicide in 2019, while charged with operating a vast network of teenage girls to abuse.
After Epstein’s arrest and death, Maxwell disappeared from public life. She was arrested in July 2020 at a property in New Hampshire on the east coast of the United States.
The police officers who completed the search of that home found a mobile phone wrapped in tin foil, which prosecutors claimed was an attempt to evade detection.
One had to pity her sibblings who sat on the first row as Maxwell cast a final nervous glance at them as she left the court. It must have been a difficult case for them to endure, but she had terribly let them down.
Maxwell had pleaded not guilty to six charges relating to: conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts; enticement of a minor for same; conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; transportation of a minor for same; sex trafficking conspiracy; sex trafficking of a minor.
She was found guilty of five of those charges.