Ghislaine Maxwell Jurors Will See Evidence Seized From Epstein’s Home

(Bloomberg) -- Jurors at British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s upcoming trial will get to see evidence seized from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, including a massage table on which he allegedly used to sexually assault teenage girls. 

The ruling came during a three-hour hearing Monday in a Manhattan courtroom as lawyers for both sides argued over what evidence can be presented at her trial. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Nov. 15, with opening arguments slated for Nov. 29. 

Maxwell, 59, has been charged with engaging in a sex-trafficking scheme with Epstein between 1994 to 2004, and with participating in some of the abuse. She has pleaded not guilty.

Maxwell said nothing during the hearing, except for responding “I have not committed any crime,” when the judge asked if she and her lawyers have been talking with prosecutors about a plea deal. Clothed in navy blue jail fatigues, Maxwell was brought to the courtroom wearing shackles around her ankles, handcuffs and a chain around her waist.  

Her lawyers lost a bid to tell jurors about a non-prosecution deal Epstein reached in 2008 with then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. That agreement protected her from prosecution, her lawyers said.

Prosecutors also won the right to show jurors a book that includes contact information for victims -- some of which included notations of “mom” or “parent” with the telephone numbers -- and a section titled “massages.” Prosecutors have said Epstein demanded “sexualized massages” from girls. 

In documents made public last week, prosecutors said that in addition to the four female victims described in the indictment, they intend to call at least two additional women who they say were victims of the couple’s abuse. 

Epstein was charged in his own federal sex-trafficking case in New York in July 2019. A month later, he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in what was ruled a suicide. Maxwell was arrested a year later at a remote home in Bradford, New Hampshire. 

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