Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who is accused of serving as a madam for convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and procuring him underage girls for sex, will go on trial Monday in a case that may end up exposing the men who used their services.
If convicted on all counts and given the maximum sentences, Maxwell could spend 70 years in prison — a life sentence for the 59-year-old.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the six-count indictment against her and is being held in a New York jail sometimes referred to as a “hellhole.” As The Daily Wire previously reported, Maxwell allegedly believes that Epstein was murdered in prison and that she could be a target. A federal judge denied her bail “and ordered that she be held at the Brooklyn Detention Center, where she has been held since shortly after her July 2 arrest in New Hampshire,” The Wire wrote.
Epstein died in his prison cell on August 10, 2019, But contrary to Maxwell’s claim, New York City’s chief medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.
In August 2020, eight women saying they were victims of Epstein detailed their alleged encounters with him in a Lifetime documentary titled “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein.” The Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo reported that one of the alleged victims “recalled Maxwell showing her how to give Epstein a massage, which she said quickly turned into the pair sexually abusing her.”
Maxwell faces six counts for allegedly recruiting, grooming and abusing four minor girls with Epstein in the U.S. and in Britain between 1994 through 2004. She is also accused of engaging in “group sexual encounters” with Epstein and an underage girl — identified in court documents as “Minor Victim-1” — from 1994 to 1997, according to the indictments.
It’s unknown if Maxwell will take the stand, but NPR laid out what her lawyers are expected to say in her defense. “The defense is expected to argue that there is no way Maxwell can get a fair trial; that she is, in essence, being tried for Epstein’s crimes and has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion,” said NPR.
Meanwhile, prosecutors “will likely explain the charges against her without exaggerating or overperforming, said former assistant U.S. attorney and experienced trial lawyer Gene Rossi,” according to the New York Post.
“I expect them to be very cautious but firm — strategic, but not inflammatory. They will underpromise yet over-perform at trial,” Rossi said of the Southern District of New York prosecutors, the Post wrote. “The charges themselves speak volumes. Anytime you have underage sex trafficking, that charge alone inflames passions and biases of any jury.”
Maxwell was born in France and is the daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1991. After that, Maxwell became known as a wealthy socialite and she was often photographed at celebrity events hobnobbing with rich and powerful people.
In March, a woman filed suit claiming the pair repeatedly raped her in front of her young son.
The new allegations were filed against Epstein’s estate at the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida, according to The Telegraph. The woman accuses the couple in the civil lawsuit of “rape, sex trafficking, sexual abuse, physical assault, physical mutilation, emotional distress, blackmail, intimidation, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.”
After meeting the pair, she says Maxwell “began an extended effort of persuasion and grooming.” She said during a visit to Epstein’s home in Palm Beach “that she was raped by the billionaire ‘with Maxwell’s assistance.’”