Maxwell enforced a ‘culture of silence’
NEW YORK: Ghislaine Maxwell enforced a “culture of silence” in Jeffrey Epstein’s houses to ensure his horrific crimes never came to light, a jury was told at the opening of her trial in Manhattan.
“Ghislaine Maxwell was (convicted pedophile) Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend and right hand,” prosecutor Lara Pomerantz told the court.
The daughter of British press baron Robert Maxwell was not merely an aide to Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors, she said “she was essential to this scheme”.
“As an adult woman, she was able to provide a cover of respectability.”
Maxwell helped Epstein to recruit, befriend and groom his victims, Ms Pomerantz said. She said the teenagers targeted by Maxwell and Epstein were drawn from poor families and the two preyed particularly on the children of single mothers.
Epstein was the owner of palatial homes in Manhattan, Paris and Palm Beach, as well as an entire island in the Caribbean, she said, adding Maxwell acted to keep her erstwhile partner happy “to ensure that Epstein’s sexual appetites remained satisfied”.
Maxwell, 59, is charged with conspiring to lure and “transport” four teenage girls between 1994 and 2004, encouraging them to travel to Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida and New Mexico. She also faces charges of sex trafficking in relation to one of those alleged victims, who says she was recruited in 2001, at just 14, and was paid to engage in sex acts with Epstein and recruit other girls.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in 2019 and took his own life in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial. Maxwell was arrested nearly a year later in New Hampshire and has been held in a Brooklyn jail for 16 months. She denies all the charges.
The case opened on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) with the story of a teenage girl who was given a pseudonym to protect her identity.
“I want to tell you a story about a young girl named Jane,” Ms Pomerantz said. “It was 1994 and Jane was spending her summer at a camp for talented kids.”
Ms Pomerantz said a man and a woman were strolling past a picnic table where Jane was sitting with friends when they stopped. The man introduced himself as someone who gave fellowships to students.
“What Jane didn’t know was that this meeting was the beginning of a nightmare that would last for years.”
Ms Pomerantz said that Maxwell groomed thee girls for abuse by befriending them and later by “normalising” sexual abuse by Epstein, by undressing in front of them and sometimes taking part. She encouraged them to give Epstein a massage, which would lead to rape.
The trial continues.