Key figures in the courtroom clash

Prosecutor who tried to nail predator billionaire faces ‘super-lawyer’ who failed to keep Bin Laden aide out of jail

The daughter of a former FBI director and a lawyer who defended Osama bin Laden’s spokesman are among the legal teams assembled for the trial.

Maurene Comey, 32, daughter of James Comey, who was famously fired by Donald Trump as FBI director, is one of three experienced federal prosecutors leading the case.

She has prosecuted a number of high-profile cases, including a prominent former gynaecologist accused of assaulting dozens of patients.

Along with the other lead prosecutors, Alex Rossmiller and Alison Moe, she had been prosecuting Jeffrey Epstein before his death in 2019.

Mr Rosmiller previously worked as an intelligence analyst for the defence department and is now in the public corruption unit in the southern district of New York.

Ms Moe previously pursued fraud charges against former Trump campaign aide Steve Bannon.

Meanwhile, Ms Maxwell has set aside £5million for her formidable defence team.

Among them is “super-lawyer” Bobbi Sternheim.

She once represented Khaled alfawwaz, a spokesman and top aide to Osama bin Laden. The Saudi national was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for aiding the bombing of US embassies in east Africa.

She is joined by: David Markus, who boasts of being “one of few lawyers that can do it all”; Christian Everdell, who helped convict drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman; Mark Cohen, a former prosecutor who has become a top white-collar defence lawyer; and Coloradobased lawyers Jeffrey Pagliuca and Laura Menninger.

The judge is Alison Nathan, who was nominated to the court by Barack Obama in 2011 and has long ties to the Democrats.

Rozina Sabur