For those following the Jeffrey Epstein story, the past two years have felt like driving around a curve that never ends. Answers to the key questions at the heart of the vast scandal have seemed tantalizingly close and frustratingly out of reach. How did the late pedophile earn his estimated half-billion-dollar fortune? Which powerful men participated in his sex-trafficking ring? What about all those surveillance videos from inside his homes? On November 29, lawyers are set to deliver opening statements in the highly anticipated trial of Epstein’s alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. For Epstein’s victims, it will be an opportunity for justice long denied. For the rest of us, it may be our best and last chance to unravel the Epstein enigma.
Maxwell is being tried on six counts, including conspiracy to transport underage girls to engage in illegal sexual activity. The indictment cites four victims whom, prosecutors say, Maxwell groomed between 1994 and 2004 when the women were minors (some as young as 14 at the time). Prosecutors allege Maxwell befriended the girls, took them shopping and to the movies, and delivered them to Epstein to be abused, often in Maxwell’s presence. Maxwell vehemently denies the charges. “I have not committed any crimes,” she said at a pretrial hearing on November 1. Her lawyers have attacked the government’s case on several fronts. In pretrial motions they argue that Maxwell is being unfairly punished because the government failed to prosecute Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 before he could be brought to trial. They’ve also excoriated the inhumane conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where Maxwell has been held in solitary confinement for the past 16 months. If convicted, the 59-year-old Maxwell faces up to 80 years in prison. Effectively, she is on trial for her life.
I have been covering Epstein since he was arrested at Teterboro Airport on July 6, 2019. I was hopeful the Maxwell trial would finally, and definitively, solve the Epstein mystery. But now, I am not optimistic. In pretrial motions, prosecutors have indicated their case will be focused on Maxwell’s alleged role in grooming and trafficking young girls. “The question at trial,” prosecutors wrote, “will be whether the defendant took steps to provide Jeffrey Epstein with access to girls under the age of 18, knowing that Epstein intended to have sexual contact with those girls.” The prosecutors need to prove that Maxwell illegally trafficked girls to Epstein; they don’t need to prove that Epstein was a money launderer, a spy who ran a sexual blackmail scheme, or any of the other wild theories that have been floated over the years. “They’re not chasing Epstein’s money. If that’s what you want answered, you will be very disappointed,” said a person close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Judge Alison Nathan has ordered all parties to refrain from speaking to the media. A lawyer who has represented Epstein victims said in frustration: “What are we actually going to learn?”
What we learn in the courtroom will depend in large part on the witnesses the government puts on the stand. At least four accusers will testify against Maxwell (three of whom will be granted anonymity). According to a source, one of the best-known Epstein accusers, Virginia Giuffre, will not be testifying. Giuffre is the only Epstein accuser that has named names of the powerful men who allegedly participated in Epstein’s trafficking ring. In depositions and media interviews, Giuffre said Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to Britain’s Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson; former Democratic Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell; the late MIT computer scientist Marvin Minsky; and MC2 model agency cofounder Jean-Luc Brunel (the men have strenuously denied the allegations). According to the source, Giuffre, who lives in Australia, will hold off-the-record remote briefings for reporters during the trial.
Another unresolved question is what evidence Judge Nathan will allow prosecutors to introduce in court. Prosecutors say Maxwell had two unnamed coconspirators in addition to Epstein. These unnamed accomplices could have cooperated with the government and furnished new details about Epstein’s crimes that could be aired in court. But we won’t hear from them directly. The New York Times reported on November 16 that the coconspirators are not “available” to testify. Conceivably, the government could be investigating these people and planning to charge them with crimes after the Maxwell trial. Until then, we wait.
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