Epstein’s ‘pedo pals’ should be tried as well, court told
NEW YORK: Prosecutors failed to call crucial witnesses at Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial, including some who could have faced criminal charges for their alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minors, a lawyer for Maxwell has told a New York judge.
Sarah Kellen, a former assistant of Epstein, was identified in the trial as someone who helped to arrange his “massages” – which prosecutors say were a ruse to sexually abuse minors.
A key witness in the case, testifying under the name Carolyn, said Ms Kellen called her to schedule massages and also paid her $US500 to pose for a naked photograph when she was 14 or 15.
But Ms Kellen was not called to testify, and Maxwell’s lawyer, Christian Everdell, complained she was among several potential witnesses “who the government could have charged, criminally, based on the testimony we heard”.
He said prosecutors could have put them on the stand by granting them immunity. Maxwell’s defence team did not have that power and were unable to bring them to court, he added.
Had the defence tried to do so, these witnesses “undoubtedly would have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights” against self-incrimination, he said.
Mr Everdell named Ms Kellen as one of several possible “co-conspirators” during a hearing over the weekend before the trial’s final day on Tuesday (AEDT), when Maxwell’s lawyers are expected to argue she is being singled out and blamed for Epstein’s crimes. They will draw attention to other associates who have not appeared in court.