GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S TRIAL OPENS IN N.Y.

More than two years after Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in a jail cell, Ghislaine Maxwell — the woman who prosecutors say helped him to recruit, groom and abuse young girls — went on trial on Monday in Manhattan.

Maxwell and Epstein were “partners in crime,” a federal prosecutor, Lara Pomerantz, told the jury. Maxwell sexually exploited young girls by developing their trust, helped to normalize abusive sexual conduct and then “served them up” to Epstein in a decadelong scheme, the prosecutor said.

“The defendant and Epstein made young girls believe that their dreams could come true,” Pomerantz said in U.S. District Court. “They made them feel special, but that was a cover.”

“Behind closed doors,” Pomerantz said, “the defendant and Epstein were committing heinous crimes. They were sexually abusing teenage girls.”

The trial of Maxwell, 59, the daughter of a British media mogul and a longtime fixture on the New York social scene, has been widely seen as the courtroom reckoning that Epstein avoided when he took his own life in prison a month after his arrest on sex-trafficking charges.

The hotly anticipated trial will offer a new window into the exploits of one of the most notorious sex offenders in modern American history.

Epstein's crimes, his dealings with the criminal justice system and his death have been the subject of books, exposés, podcasts, conspiracy theories, lawsuits, investigations and documentaries. But they have never been aired in a criminal trial.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on charges that he recruited dozens of girls to engage in sex acts with him at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and his mansion in Manhattan, paying them hundreds of dollars in cash after each encounter, a federal indictment said. He died the following month.

Maxwell, who was arrested in July 2020, faces charges that include sex trafficking of a minor, enticing and transporting minors to engage in illegal sex acts, and three conspiracy counts.

She could face up to 70 years in prison if convicted of all counts.

Maxwell has steadfastly maintained her innocence, and her lawyer, Bobbi C. Sternheim, told the jury that the evidence would not support the charges against her client.

She described Maxwell as a “scapegoat” for Epstein's

actions, adding, “Ever since Eve was accused of tempting Adam with the apple, women have been blamed for the bad behavior of men.”

The trial could last up to six weeks, the parties have told the judge, Alison J. Nathan.

The charges against Maxwell center on four accusers who say she groomed them to be abused by Epstein between 1994 and 2004, when they were underage.

Those accusers, now adults, are expected to testify at trial, some under pseudonyms or with partial names, the government has said.