New York: Jury in the Sex Abuse Court Ghislaine Maxwell began negotiating on Monday against whether the British Sociors established teenage girls to hold sexual meetings with Jeffrey Epstein or if he was a scapegoat for investors.
Maxwell, 59, was accused of recruiting and planning four teenage girls for Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
The accusers, now women in their 30s or 40s, said in emotional and explicit testimony that Maxwell touched Epstein felt normal to them – and said he sometimes touched their own bodies.
Tried for three weeks in the Federal Court in Manhattan, Maxwell said he was not guilty of allegations of sex trade and other crimes.
Epstein killed himself in prison cells in 2019 at the age of 66 while waiting for a trial of sex harassment costs.
“Your function is to weigh evidence in this case and to determine whether the government has proven that Ms.
Maxwell is guilty of surpassing a reasonable doubt,” US District Judge Alison Nathan instructed 12 judges and five alternatives before the deliberation began.
The jury discussed in just less than an hour on Monday and will continue the deliberation on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, the prosecutor of Alison Moe said in the argument of the lid that Maxwell was “partner in Epstein’s crime.” He said Maxwell, a girlfriend and employees of ONETIM Epstein, seeing to help Epstein abuse underage girls as a means to maintain a luxurious lifestyle.
Moe argues that Maxwell’s presence made young girls feel comfortable spending time with Epstein.
Otherwise, accepting an invitation to be with a middle-aged man will look “creepy” and “trigger alarm bells,” Moe said.
“Epstein can’t do this alone,” Moe said.
“When the man is accompanied by a luxury woman, smiling, respectful, according to age, that’s when everything starts to look legitimate.
And when the woman …
acting like it’s really normal for the man to touch the girls, it’s lure They became a trap.
“Defense Prosecutor Maxwell Lauri Menninger against that Maxwell was a” innocent woman “targeted by prosecutors because Epstein no longer lived.
He argued that the woman’s memory was broken for decades and said they were motivated by money to involve Maxwell.
The four women said they received millions of dollars from victims’ compensation funds founded by Epstein plantations.
Defense repeatedly pressed the women during a cross examination why they did not call Maxwell during their initial conversation with law enforcement agents about Epstein.
“They all changed their stories when Epstein’s compensation funds opened,” Menninger told the jury.
“It should make you doubt.”