EPSTEIN 'MADAM' GETTING HER DAY IN COURT
Life sentence may loom as trial begins
Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused longtime madam of pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, goes on trial Monday — beginning the final act of criminal proceedings against the disgraced socialite that could be the last chance at justice for the duo’s alleged victims.
If convicted on all counts, Maxwell faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison — effectively a life sentence for the 59-year-old,
who has been jailed in a Brooklyn lockup since her arrest last year.
Maxwell faces six counts for allegedly recruiting, grooming and abusing four minor girls with Epstein at multiple locations in the United States and in the UK from 1994 through 2004.
Her crimes included engaging in “group sexual encounters” with Epstein and an underage girl — identified in court documents as “Minor Victim-1” — from 1994 to 1997, prosecutors charge in the indictment against her.
The crimes she’s accused of are sensational and will spark an emotional reaction among jurors before evidence in the case is presented, legal experts told The Post. It’s one of the reasons the cards are stacked against Maxwell at trial — and why prosecutors may win a conviction, the experts added.
But just how the trial will play out — and if Maxwell will take the stand in her own defense — remains to be seen.
In their opening statement, prosecutors will likely explain the charges against her without exaggerating or overperforming, said former US Attorney and experienced trial lawyer Gene Rossi.
“The charges themselves speak volumes,” Rossi said. “Anytime you have underage sex trafficking, that charge alone inflames passions and biases of any jury.”
The potential biases of jurors could actually work in Maxwell’s favor — not least because of her gender, said Jennifer Rodgers, a lecturer at Columbia Law School.
“Juries are often sympathetic to women defendants generally, and if they can paint her as a type of victim of Epstein as well, that might work in their favor in this regard,” she said.
But at the same time, her gender could be a pitfall for the defense team, Rodgers noted.
“Jurors might not like that she was a woman helping abuse young girls,” she said.
Her defense attorneys may run into similar landmines with the jury if they attempt to paint her as a victim, the experts added.
Maxwell was born in France and raised in luxury as the daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1991.
After her father’s death, Maxwell developed a persona in the British and American media as a wealthy socialite who built relationships with powerful men across the globe, in part because of her romantic involvement with Epstein.
This “charmed” lifestyle that Maxwell led could make the argument that she’s actually a victim of Epstein a tough pill to swallow for the jury, Rossi said.
Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a lower Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges brought by the same prosecutors’ office that arrested Maxwell.
Maxwell has maintained her innocence since her arrest and has appealed numerous times to be released on bail from the Brooklyn federal lockup where she’s being held.