Pedo’s lover claims her accusers are not ‘victims’
NEW YORK: Ghislaine Maxwell wants to stop prosecutors from calling her accusers “victims” and has asked a judge to bar testimony about any alleged child rape by her former lover – convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein – when she goes on trial accused of assisting the dead billionaire in his abuse of minors.
Her lawyers gave notice to the judge after receiving thousands of pages of material related to the witnesses that prosecutors intend to call. Maxwell’s lawyers want to stop prosecutors from referencing “minor victims” in front of the jury. They are also are trying to exclude evidence related to one of the four accusers who is expected to give evidence against her.
In the indictment setting out the charges against Maxwell, 59, the accusers are identified as “minor victims” 130 times in the 25-page document. It says Maxwell was in an “intimate relationship” with Epstein and was paid to manage his homes in New York, Palm Beach, New Mexico and the Caribbean between 1994 and 2004.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking minors in 2019 and Maxwell’s lawyers contend that it was only after he took his own life in a Manhattan jail that prosecutors looked to bring charges against her instead.
Maxwell denies all the charges against her.