Maxwell ‘was Geppetto to Epstein’s Pinocchio’

GHISLAINE MAXWELL was “worse than Jeffrey Epstein” and “masterminded” the alleged abuse of women and young girls, one of his victims has claimed.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleged that Ms Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with Prince Andrew three times when she was 17. The prince and Ms Maxwell strongly deny the accusations.

“Ghislaine was much more conniving and smart than Epstein ever was,” Ms Giuffre, 36, told CBS News.

“I know that woman. I’ve known her really well. Put it this way – Epstein was Pinocchio and she was Geppetto. Jeffrey was a sick paedophile. But she was the mastermind,” she said.

In the children’s story, Pinocchio is a puppet famed for telling lies and woodcarver Geppetto is his creator.

Ms Maxwell is being held in the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, on charges she helped lure at least three girls, one as young as 14, to be sexually abused by the late millionaire financier.

On Tuesday, she pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking and procuring young victims. Her lawyers have argued she has been a “victim of ‘media spin’”, and that she has been made a scapegoat since the death of Epstein by suicide in his prison cell last year.

“Maxwell is not Epstein,” Mark Cohen, her attorney, told the court on Tuesday. “The media focus quickly shifted to our client – wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein.”

She “has always denied any alleged misconduct”, her lawyers said.