Maxwell’s legal team fears jury will find her ‘unlikeable’
GHISLAINE Maxwell has been called “wholly unlikeable” by potential jurors – leading her spooked lawyers to discuss cutting a deal with prosecutors.
The socialite’s team canvassed New Yorkers in readiness for the socialite’s trial on sex trafficking and grooming charges, which starts today.
A source close to her legal team revealed: “The response set alarm bells ringing.
“After showing them videos and coverage of the case, the dummy jurors were asked to give feedback.
“They described her as ‘wholly unlikeable’, they thought she was ‘arrogant’ and ‘suspicious’ while ‘lacking credibility’.”
The revelation came as Maxwell, 59, a friend of Prince Andrew and the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, broke her silence to complain she is stuck in a “living hell” in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Centre.
Maggots
She moaned about rats in the showers, maggots in an apple she’d been given – and that she is watched by “creepy” prison guards.
Maxwell told documentary-maker Daphne Barak: “I have been assaulted and abused for almost a year and a half.
“I have not had a nutritious meal in that time. I haven’t slept without lights on – fluorescent lights that have damaged my eyes – or been allowed to sleep without constant interruptions.
“I am weak, I am frail. I have no stamina. I am tired. I don’t even have shoes which fit properly. They feed me rotten food. One apple had maggots in it. I have not been allowed to exercise.”
Maxwell’s lawyer complained that her client has endured jail conditions like those seen in film The Silence of the Lambs.
Bobbi Sternheim wrote to Judge Alison Nathan: “The surveillance rivals scenes of Dr Hannibal Lecter’s incarceration despite the absence of the cage and plastic faceguard.” Maxwell had her £21million bail application denied for the fourth time last week, with the Judge Nathan citing a “significant risk of flight” by the accused.
One of Maxwell’s accusers Virginia Giuffre is suing Prince Andrew in the US for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager. He denies her allegations.
Andrew has faced criticism for his links to Epstein. The US financier – a convicted paedophile – killed himself in his New York cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell’s trial starts today in New York with jury selection.
She is due to enter the dock on November 29 on charges of sex trafficking a minor, sex trafficking conspiracy, and grooming a 14-yearold girl to engage in sexual acts with her ex-boyfriend Epstein from 2001 to 2004.
Former real estate worker Maxwell – the Oxford-educated youngest child of disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell – was arrested in July 2020. More than 20 armed FBI agents swooped on her 156-acre £800,000 home in New Hampshire.
She has reportedly told friends: “I have tremendous fear that overwhelmingly negative media stories will poison my jury pool and affect the outcome of my trial despite the evidence. I look forward to finally having my day in court to prove I played no part in Epstein’s crimes.”
American authorities have described her as a “procurer” of underage girls for him. Epstein also socialised with former US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
Ms Barak’s documentary about Maxwell is set to be shown on ITV once the trial is over.