The government’s sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell rests largely on the accounts of four women who say that they were sexually abused by the financier Jeffrey Epstein with assistance from Ms. Maxwell.
Three of those women have already testified in Federal District Court in Manhattan; a fourth is expected to testify this week. All three said that Mr. Epstein sexually abused them while they were teenagers and that Ms. Maxwell played a crucial role in facilitating that abuse, establishing an initial contact with Mr. Epstein, arranging visits to his homes or giving instructions on how Mr. Epstein liked to be touched.
Jane
The first accuser to take the stand, identified only as Jane, testified that she was a 14-year-old girl from Palm Beach, Fla., when she met Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Epstein at a summer camp in Michigan. Her family had little money at the time, she said. Her father, a conductor and composer, had died the previous year.
Jane said that Ms. Maxwell at first treated her like a younger sister, taking her to the movies and buying her clothes — including a cashmere sweater and underwear from Victoria’s Secret. Later, Ms. Maxwell gave her instructions on how to give massages to Mr. Epstein, Jane said, and he sexually abused her during those sessions.
Sometimes Ms. Maxwell took part in the sexual activity, too, Jane said. She said on occasion people gathered at one of Mr. Epstein’s homes would remove their clothes “and it would just, you know, sort of turn into this orgy.”
She never told her mother about the years of abuse, she said, “because I felt very ashamed, I felt very disgusted, I was confused.”
Kate
Kate said met Ms. Maxwell in London when she was 17, introduced by an older man she was dating. Ms. Maxwell had a home in Belgravia, an upscale neighborhood where Kate was living with her mother. At the time, Kate testified, she had just moved back to England from France and had few friends. “I was quite excited to be friends with her,” Kate testified. “She seemed to be everything that I wanted to be.”
Kate told the jury that one day Ms. Maxwell asked her fill in for Mr. Epstein’s masseuse, though she had no experience. During the massage, Mr. Epstein initiated sexual contact. That pattern was repeated multiple times over the next few years, in London and at his residences in the United States.
She recalled one occasion in Florida when Ms. Maxwell gave her a “schoolgirl” outfit –– a short pleated skirt, white socks, white panties and a shirt –– to wear while bringing tea to Mr. Epstein at he mansion. That, too, led to sexual activity initiated by Mr. Epstein.
“I didn’t know how to say ‘no’ to that,” Kate testified. “I wasn’t sure if I said ‘no’ — if I would have to leave or what kind of consequence there might be for not doing it.”
Carolyn
When she was 14 years old, Carolyn testified, a friend brought her to Mr. Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, saying she could make money for a massage. Once there, Carolyn told jurors, she watched her friend massage Mr. Epstein, then have sex with him.
Over the next four years, Carolyn said, she gave Mr. Epstein more than 100 sexual massages for money, during which touched her and masturbated. Ms. Maxwell called her to arrange some of those massage sessions, Carolyn said.
On two occasions, he summoned another woman to join the sexual activity. At least once, Carolyn said, Ms. Maxwell participated herself, touching Carolyn’s breasts, hips and buttocks. She recalled that Ms. Maxwell said “that I had a great body for Mr. Epstein and his friends.”
She told jurors that she told both Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Epstein how old she was.
Carolyn said she spent money she received for the massage sessions to buy alcohol and drugs and ended up abusing both. She stopped going to Mr. Epstein’s house when she was 18. “He asked me if I had any younger friends, and I said no,” she said. “And that’s when I realized I was too old.”