Ghislaine Maxill’s eagerly awaited sex trafficking case will begin Monday in New York. She faces 80 years imprisonment if she’s convicted.
Maxwell (59) is accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls to be a part of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s one-time relationship. Epstein committed suicide in Manhattan in 2019, shortly before being charged with sex abuse.
Sarah Ransome was one of many women accused of Epstein’s abuse. She arrived at the courthouse on Monday morning. Ransome was born to British parents in South Africa and claimed that she attempted to flee Epstein’s “pedophile Island” by using shark-invested water after having been raped three more times in one day.
She told reporters, “I didn’t think this day would ever come.”
Maxwell has been awaiting trial in a ‘hell-hole’ Brooklyn prison since her arrest last July. Opening statements will begin Monday and the trial will continue until mid-January.
Expected to be hired as lawyers for British socialites According to court filings and legal professionals, she focuses on discrediting her accusers as well as Epstein.
Sarah Ransome was one of the many women that have accused Epstein of sexual abuse. She arrived at the courthouse with her accusation.
Ghislaine Maxill’s trial for sex trafficking begins in New York today. The 59-year old socialite could spend 80 years prison time if she is convicted.
Maxwell, aged 59, is scheduled to be tried on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell has pleaded guilty to the charges.
Before the trial of Ghislaine Maxiwell begins, media and the general public gathered outside of Manhattan Federal Courthouse.
Two hours prior to Maxwell’s trial for sex trafficking, lines formed outside of the New York Courthouse.
Ian Maxwell claimed that his sister has been unfairly stigmatized by Epstein’s association. Epstein committed suicide in 2019, before Epstein could be charged with child sex crimes.
Maxwell’s legal team repeatedly claimed that Maxwell was mistreated behind bars. Maxwell is seen in prison with “a black eye” earlier this year.
According to him, his brother was “paying a heavy and bloody price” for the crimes committed by her former lover, Ghislaine. Ghislaine is accused of using underage girls as a means of procuring them.
Ian Maxwell claimed that Epstein was also being railroaded and held accountable by the U.S. penal justice system.
Maxwell declared that it was the “most hyped trial of this century,” without question.
“This is meant to destroy her. I don’t know how else to interpret it. She will not be broken, because she trusts in her innocence completely and is determined to provide the best possible account.
In what is being viewed as a risky strategy in the post-#MeToo era, the defense will question the credibility of four women who say she groomed them as teenagers for Epstein to abuse, arguing that their memories are faulty or that they are motivated by financial incentives to lie or exaggerate.
It is not clear if Scott Borgerson, Maxwell’s tech CEO husband, will be there. Borgerson surfaced hundreds of miles away in Manchester-by-the-Sea last week, seen for the first time in over a year by DailyMail.com.
There are still questions about their true relationship. Although the Prosecutors confirmed that they were married, it is still a mystery to some family members.
DailyMail.com cannot locate any marriage or divorce licenses in the area where they live.
The courthouse was filled with journalists on Monday morning.
Live shots were taken by journalists outside of the Manhattan Federal Courthouse. Ghislaine Maxwell is due to stand trial today.
Outside the courthouse, where heavy media presence was expected, barriers were put up
Maxwell lawyers claim they will call Elizabeth Loftus, an American psychologist, to give evidence about Maxwell’s ‘false memory’.
Judge ruled last week that Epstein victims’ compensation fund administrators must keep records of women’s claims against Ghislaine Maxill that they played any role in sexual abuse.
Alison Nathan (US District Judge) rejected federal prosecutors’ requests to quash Maxwell’s subpoenas for records.
Nathan will look over Maxwell’s materials before making a decision on which material can be returned.
Four of her accusers, who were expected to give evidence against her, have filed claims to the fund. The fund paid $121 million to approximately 138 people.
Court records reveal that the defense demanded records of the fund relating to statements and payments made to women. The records were deemed irrelevant by the prosecution.
Nathan deferred last week’s decision on the admission of Maxwell’s address book, which prosecutors claimed contained information about at least one victim.
Maxwell’s attorneys had doubted the authenticity of Maxwell’s address book.
Maxwell denied all accusations against her. They relate to the period 1994-2004.
Maxwell had her hair cut in a pixie style, but it looked much more shiny and clean than last week. Photo taken in 2013.
Maxwell has at least four potential witnesses, with three being allowed anonymity.
According to reports, Virginia Roberts Giuffre is not one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers. However, she will testify against Maxwell in Maxwell’s trial, naming the names of the people who were involved in Epstein’s trafficking scheme.
It is not yet clear why she is not being called to testify in Maxwell’s trial, but Giuffre’s lawyers has suggested his client was not part of the case against the socialite because she was 17 at the time, which is over the age of consent in some of the locations where her alleged abuse is said to have taken place.
Giuffre, who has been openly speaking out about the abuse over many years, said Maxwell is ‘pure evil. Epstein was a sick-pedophile. Maxwell was his mastermind.
In media interviews, she claimed that Epstein and Maxwell had trafficked her to wealthy men.
According to Vanity Fair, Giuffre will not be taking the stand but is believed to plan to hold off on-the-record briefings from Australia for journalists throughout the trial.
Ghislaine Maxwell (59), in June 2019, with six of her living siblings. Ian Maxwell, her elder brother (top right), was there to share it with her this weekend. Jeffrey Epstein was detained a month later and Ghislaine fled to hiding with Scott Borgerson, her husband. L-R: Anne (73), Kevin (62), twins Isabel, Christine, 70 and Philip (71) and Ian (64)
Scott Borgerson is still unsure if Maxwell’s spouse will travel to New York for the trial to support his wife.
Maxwell’s family and legal team argue that Maxwell is being tried as a proxy to Epstein, 66. Epstein died in Manhattan in August 2019, while Epstein was awaiting trial for child sex traficking. New York’s coroner declared Maxwell’s death a suicide.
Epstein, who was accused of giving massages to young women in Florida, was sentenced in 2008. However, Epstein spent just 13 months in prison under a secret agreement made with the prosecutor.
The suicide of the accused led to the denial of a number of their court dates and spawned many conspiracy theories. One was that he had been killed in order to defend his powerful friends.
Maxwell has had four bail applications rejected by Judge Nathan. He noted the ease in which Maxwell, a holder of US and British citizenships, could flee to the United States, France and Britain through wealth and connections.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre is not expected to testify during Maxwell’s trial. However, she will provide off-the–record briefings and information for journalists. In the past, she claimed that Andrew forced her to have sex. All sexual accusations against the Duke of York have been consistently refuted by him
Giuffre (right, Prince Andrew) has been Epstein’s vocal accuser. However, she will not testify at the trial for GhislaineMaxwell. As a teenager, she claimed to have been a victim in Epstein’s sex trading ring.
After Epstein’s death, Epstein was a multimillionaire money manager and became friends with a number of celebrities, including Prince Andrew in Britain. Prosecutors promised to seek out co-conspirators. Maxwell was arrested in July 2020.
Since her release, she is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. There, she repeatedly complains about inhumane and unsanitary conditions.
“I’ve been assaulted, abused, for almost one year and a quarter,” she stated in comments made by Britain’s Mail on Sunday. She also said guards interrogated her sleeping and shining bright lights into her eyes.
‘I am weak, I am frail. I don’t have the stamina. I am tired. My shoes are not fitting properly. I eat rotten food. One apple was contaminated with maggots. She also complained about rats living in her cell and that she was not allowed to exercise.
Maxwell was accused of committing four crimes between 1994 and 2004. He is related to two unnamed girls, one who said she was just 14 and the other 15 when Maxwell assaulted her.
Prosecutors claim Maxwell was a friend of girls who loved to shop and go on movie theatre trips. They later persuaded them into getting Epstein nude massaging at their various homes, during which they would indulge in sex before he gave them any money.
US lawyers claim she was sometimes involved in the alleged abuses at Epstein’s Manhattan, Palm Beach, New Mexico properties and her London residence.
French-born Maxwell was also charged with perjury. These charges will be brought up after Maxwell’s sex crime trial.
These perjury charges relate to her 2016 testimony in a case of defamation brought against Virginia Giuffre, a long-time Epstein accuser.