Maxwell Defense Rests Case Without Calling Socialite to Stand
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She Won’t Testify in Her Defense
(Bloomberg) -- Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense rested after presenting two days of witnesses in her sex-trafficking trial to chip away at her accusers’ credibility and portray the socialite and her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein as good, law-abiding people.
It was a defense that sought to weaken the perception of Epstein as a sexual predator and try to distance Maxwell from the disgraced financier. Witnesses told of his donations to charity and of innocent relationships with the young daughters of family friends. They testified to the couple’s interest in “professional” massages, rather than the sexualized ones accusers said they were told to perform.
Maxwell is charged with luring underage girls to be abused by Epstein, who died in 2019, and participating in some of the assaults herself. The case, which was scheduled to last six weeks but is poised to end much sooner, began with dramatic and sometimes graphic testimony from four women about Maxwell and Epstein abusing them as teenagers. Maxwell’s lawyers challenged the accusers’ memories of the alleged incidents, which in some cases took place more than 20 years ago, and suggested financial motives for testifying.
Maxwell chose not to testify in her defense, unlike recent high-profile defendants like Elizabeth Holmes and Kyle Rittenhouse. Her lawyers, who initially said they’d call 35 witnesses, called just nine in the end, including three who said they never saw the couple engage in unusual or illegal behavior with underage girls. The prosecution called 23 witnesses over two weeks.
“Your honor, the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt so there is no reason for me to testify,” Maxwell told the judge presiding over the trial on Friday. It was the first time the socialite had spoken since the trial kicked off last month.
Closing arguments are slated for Monday.
Former Employees
Maxwell, who helped manage Epstein’s properties, called two women who worked for them to testify as character witnesses. Cimberly Espinosa, who served as Maxwell’s assistant for six years, said she never saw her boss or Epstein engage in inappropriate conduct with underage girls. She said Epstein was “a giver” who donated to charities, paid for her personal trainer and gave her a watch.
Espinosa, 55, said that Epstein had a “loving relationship” with Jane, a witness who testified he sexually abused her as a child. Espinosa said she’d thought Jane, who testified she was 14 when Epstein began sexually abusing her, was his goddaughter, and characterized their relationship as simply affectionate.
Jane, the first accuser to testify, had said Maxwell instructed her on how to give Epstein sexualized massages.
Espinosa told jurors that she didn’t see any improper behavior by the financier at his Manhattan office shared by Maxwell and that she had booked massage appointments for the duo at well-known Manhattan spas. She said that Maxwell began dating other men, and that she and Epstein would come and go from the office at separate times.
Michelle Healy, who worked as an assistant at Epstein’s office, described Maxwell as a “fantastic” supervisor.
“She taught me a lot,” Healy said. “I respected her. She’s tough, but she’s great,” she said, as Maxwell nodded and smiled.
Healy was asked about her interactions with Jane, prompting her to say that the teenager “looked like a grown-up to me,” and that she “had a lot of makeup on.”
The defense attempted to discredit Jane, who testified that she’d seen other women engage in sexualized massages with Epstein, including a woman named “Michelle,” and one named “Eva.”
Healy denied ever engaging in a group sexual encounter with Jane or Epstein.
‘Uncle F’
The defense on Friday also questioned Eva Andersson-Dubin, Epstein’s on-and-off girlfriend for about eight years before he dated Maxwell. She testified they remained friends after her marriage to former hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, and that she was comfortable with his relationship with her children. They had a term of endearment for Epstein -- Uncle F, short for Jeff, she said.
Defense lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca showed Andersson-Dubin photos that Palm Beach police recovered from Epstein’s Florida estate after a 2008 search. She identified one photo of Epstein with her youngest daughter and a second with her eldest daughter. She said she’d never seen the photos before.
Asked if she ever saw inappropriate conduct between Epstein and teenagers, Andersson-Dubin, a physician, was adamant, saying, “I did not.” She went on to say that she and her family often traveled with Epstein on his private planes.
Andersson-Dubin also denied participating in a sexual encounter with Jane.
Accusers’ Memories
Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist who has testified for the defense in hundreds of trials including Harvey Weinstein’s, was called in an effort to undermine the reliability of the memories of the four accusers. Loftus testified Thursday that accounts of sexual abuse can be tainted after questioning by law enforcement and media.
“We don’t just record events and play it back later like a recording device would work, like a video machine,” Loftus said. “Rather, we are actually constructing our memories when we retrieve memories. We often take bits and pieces of experience sometimes that occurred at different times and places, bring it together, and construct what feels like a recollection.”
Two FBI agents testified Friday about what the defense suggested were apparent inconsistencies between memos they’d taken of accusers’ accounts and their testimony at trial.
Agent Amanda Young said that during initial interviews with investigators, Jane wasn’t sure if Maxwell called her to make appointments for massages, and did not “have a specific memory of the first time” she was allegedly assaulted by Epstein.
Another alleged victim, Carolyn, had testified that she’d met Epstein through Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and that Maxwell would call her to book sexualized massages. Agent Jason Richards was asked about inconsistencies, including his notes that said Carolyn got Epstein’s phone number from the phone book.
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