by ti-amie There is no TV coverage because this is a Federal trial.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
About "Jane."
That's how three of the four "Minor Victims" of the indictment are anonymized. One is public.
by ti-amie Ponchi if possible can this be a sub thread under the "Tiny Trials" thread?
by ti-amie I'm skipping the graphic stuff.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
She says Maxwell helped Epstein find those girls.
"Sometimes, she touched the girls' bodies."
"Even when she was not in the room, make no mistake": She knew exactly what Epstein was going to do, the prosecutor says.
by ti-amie More of the AUSA's opening statement:
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
That was a lightning speed opening statement from the prosecution.
Defense statement next from Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim.
by ti-amie Opening statement from the defense:
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Sternheim:
"Ever since eve was accused of tempting Adam for the apple, women have been blamed for the bad behavior of men and women are often villainized and punished more than the men ever are."
(Fuller quote courtesy of @vicbekiempis)
by
ponchi101 ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:24 pm
Ponchi if possible can this be a sub thread under the "Tiny Trials" thread?
No. Topics are independent, and you can't have a SUB-topic.
They can be merged, and you would keep the chronological order. Or, we can order one forum (TRIALS AND LEGAL NEWS?) and put both of them there.
Might be convenient, for when the law finally catches me and sends me away
by ti-amie Continuing defense opening statement:
by
ti-amie ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 8:07 pm
ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:24 pm
Ponchi if possible can this be a sub thread under the "Tiny Trials" thread?
No. Topics are independent, and you can't have a SUB-topic.
They can be merged, and you would keep the chronological order. Or, we can order one forum (TRIALS AND LEGAL NEWS?) and put both of them there.
Might be convenient, for when the law finally catches me and sends me away
I like the "Trials and Legal News" option.
by
ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
(Extensive sidebar: Stand by.)
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The defense argues that was the age of consent, but the prosecution is expected to point to other states where she traveled where that age is higher.
Ex-federal prosecutor
@MitchellEpner
, who handle sex trafficking cases in N.J., breaks down the law.
https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/ghi ... -look-for/
by ti-amie Defense statement continued
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Replying to
@KlasfeldReports
The witness rattles off Epstein's various properties: the house in Palm Beach, Fla.; the NYC mansion, ranch in Santa Fe, N.M.; and homes in St. Thomas and nearby Little Saint James.
by mmmm8 How small segments of the world seem that the prosecutor is James Comey's daughter.
I hope the jury sees through that defense of bullying victims of child sex trafficking.
by ti-amie I have no background in law but when your opening statement compares your client to Eve in the Garden of Eden as a juror I'd be asking "is that all ya got?" Bullying is putting what she did nicely.
by ti-amie Thank you ponchi!
by Fastbackss I have been forced to spend more time on Facebook due to my other hobby, as that is the only place I can get timely information.
Now that it's the off-season I periodically check in.
I have been dumbfounded at the echo chamber they've created - replete with recycled memes and warmed takes on the same subjects - most littered with covert racism and appalling stances to take on items in the press. I often can take a circuitous route to at least understand how they make the tortured walk to their awful opinions. But the "takes" this week on the Maxwell trial leave me with mouth agape. I might shut it completely off unless I am looking for specific information or the season starts.
by ti-amie I really can't get over the defense attorney's opening statement.
I'm going to wait until the end of the day tomorrow and hope someone has done a thread reader summary.
by
mmmm8 ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:25 am
I really can't get over the defense attorney's opening statement.
I'm going to wait until the end of the day tomorrow and hope someone has done a thread reader summary.
You can turn to any episode of Law and Order: SVU featuring a trial of a serial sexual abuser of underage girls. Straight out of an "exaggerated" script.
by Fastbackss What a reference - because when I read the string of tweets here I thought "hmm...if I close my eyes I feel like I am in a SVU episode"
by ti-amie AdamKlasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) is back doing summaries of the live trial. He leaves his opinions out and just reports the facts unlike some others. *cough* Lisa Bloom *cough*
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld (via @threadreaderapp)
Good afternoon from New York.
The government just called the witness known by the pseudonym "Jane." Her story loomed large during the prosecution's opening statement.
Epstein's pilot remembered her as the girl with the "piercing powder blue eyes."
Judge Nathan just instructed the courtroom sketch artists not to depict her.
Reminder:
The U.S. Attorney's office has requested that reporters observe journalism ethics norms not to ID people who say they're survivors of sexual assault.
"Jane" just said that she was sexually assaulted by Epstein "more than once" when she was 14 years old.
Asked who was most frequently in the room when she says Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted her, she replies: "Ghislaine Maxwell."
A photograph of her at the age of 13 is submitted under seal.
She testifies about her father's death from leukemia, her family's economic difficulties and then pivots to her studies at Interlochen, a renowned arts academy in Michigan.
(Epstein's pilot talked about this camp in the morning session. Prosecutors alluded to it in openings.)
"Jane" is describing meeting Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein for the first time.
"Jane," describing her thoughts the first time she metEpstein and Maxwell:
"They seemed very friendly. I thought they were a married couple. They seemed very inquisitive."
Asked how she would go to Epstein's house, "Jane" says: "Jeffrey would send his chauffeur for me."
Q: Did you have a driver's license at the time?
A: No.
by ti-amie
more via @threadreaderapp
She recalls Maxwell telling her:
"Once you've (expletive) them, you can always f*** them again because they've been grandfathered in."
"Jane" recalls laughing because she didn't know what the word "grandfathered" meant.
"Jane" gives some examples of famous people they boasted about being associated with: "Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Mike Wallace."
She says she was 14 years old when she first had sexual contact with Jeffrey Epstein.
Q: Can you describe to the jury what happened when he took you inside the pool house?
She says he pulled his sweatpants down, pulled her on top of him, "proceeded to masturbate on me" and then left.
"I was frozen with fear," she says. "I had never seen a penis before."
Another instance, she says that Epstein and Maxwell started to fondle each other and casually giggling about it in front of her.
"Jane" says she was 14 at the time.
Asked how Epstein liked to be massaged, "Jane" says that he liked to be massaged "hard" — "twisting his nipples hard, rubbing his feet hard," she says.
"Jane": "It's all these mixed emotions when you're 14. You don't know what is going on."
"He would touch my breasts. He would touch my vagina."
Q: Did you touch Epstein's body?
A: Yes.
Q: Where did you touch his body?
A: Everywhere.
The prosecutor, apologizing for having to ask the q-, asks about Epstein and sex toys.
"Jane": "He liked to use vibrators, which were of different sizes. He liked to use the back massagers, which were really painful."
"He would put it on my vagina, even if I said that it hurt."
More:
"Jane" says that other people were sometimes present during her abuse.
"She would start taking her clothes off, and Jeffrey would get on the massage table." And it would turn into this "orgy."
"Jane" testifies that she was also abused in New York.
"If it wasn't an orgy in the massage room, it was in Jeffrey's bedroom," where she says she would typically be alone with him, "Jane" says.
This abuse also happened when she was 14, 15 and 16, she adds.
She gets audibly emotional saying: "I felt my heart sinking into my stomach."
Asked why, she voice cracks as she replies: "Because I didn't want to see him."
Brief, 10-minute recess.
by ti-amie From another legal account that his live tweeting the trial:
by ponchi101 Ok. This sounds very sordid. But, and excuse me for being the devil's advocate here: where were this woman's parents, when she was 14? You are telling me that she was allowed to travel around the USA with a grownup man in his jet plane, and they never said anything?
Seems like there are a lot of guilty parts here, from what has been posted.
by
ti-amie Testimony has resumed after the ten minute break.
First is from @KlasfeldReports via @threadreaderapp
She said her mother was "enamored" of this idea that "these wealthy, affluent people took an interest in me."
"They must think I'm special, and I should be grateful about the attention that I'm receiving."
She says she didn't tell her mother about any sexual abuse because she felt ashamed, thought it was her fault, and was in a household when you didn't speak unless spoken to.
"I was afraid that I would be in trouble if I said something," she says.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe asks her if she considered self-harm.
She replies yes, her voice cracking as she describes things seeming "hopeless."
She spoke to a school guidance counselor about her sadness, she said.
She said her mother slapped her and told her she shouldn't tell anyone about her feelings and what's going on at home.
From @InnerCityPress
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
8m
Replying to
@innercitypress
...Judge Nathan: Jurors, you will hear what the witness' mother said. That is not offered for the truth of the matter asserted, but for the impact on the witness. You may proceed.
AUSA: What did your mother say?
Jane: That I should be grateful for their attention.
AUSA: Did you tell your siblings about the abuse?
Jane: No. I was ashamed. And I had a manic-depressed mother who didn't know how to cope. [sobs] It seemed hopeless.
by ti-amie From @KlasfeldReports
"Jane" about Maxwell and Epstein's attention: "Initially, I felt special. I didn't have much support or attention at home."
Asked about the long-term impacts of her experiences with Epstein and Maxwell, "Jane" asks: "How do you navigate a healthy relationship with a broken compass?"
"I didn't know what real love was supposed to look like."
"It ruined my self-esteem, my self-worth," she adds later.
by ti-amie Inner City Press:
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
AUSA: Jane, what kind of work do you do now?
Jane: I am still an actor. I got work in LA. But I didn't know how to trust, how to reciprocate.
AUSA: When did you stop being in touch with Jeffrey Epstein?
Jane: In 2002. I fell in love with someone.
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
Jane: Epstein kept calling me and saying he wanted to see me, that I needed to be grateful to him, that my mother was living in one of his apartment. Do you want me to continue?
AUSA: Was that the last time?
Jane: Yes.
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
AUSA: Later did you tell the man I'll call Matt about Epstein?
Jane: Yes. Not in detail. But I did. By then you saw Epstein on the TV all the time. He had been arrested.
AUSA: Did the FBI interview you in September 2019?
Jane: Yes.
Jane: May 2019.
AUSA: Did you sue Ghislaine Maxwell?
Jane: Yes. In 2020.
AUSA: And the Epstein Victims' Fund?
Jane: Yes. They awarded me $5 million. Of that, I got approximately $2.9 million.
AUSA: Would the verdict in this case impact that?
Objection!
Sidebar.
They're back.
AUSA: Would a verdict here impact that?
Jane: No.
Judge Nathan: This is not a legal opinion.
AUSA: Why do you want to be anonymous?
Jane: Because I work in Hollywood and victim shaming is still the norm.
AUSA: No further questions.
by ti-amie Cross is starting. There is a hard stop at 5p EST.
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Cross-examination begins
The first question, summarized, is: You waited 20 years to report to law enforcement?
More details of the cross:
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
Judge Nathan: Ms. Menninger you may cross examine.
Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: You waited 20 years to complain, correct?
Jane: Correct.
Menninger: Two full decades before your first report to the police. By then Mr. Epstein was dead, correct?
Jane: Correct.
Menninger: And you had two personal injury attorneys with you. Mr. Glaxman and Mr. Workman. And AUSA Moe.
Jane: Yes.
Menniger: In the 20 years, you spoke to several people close to you. To the person we're referring to as Matt. Your sister Camilla-
Objection!
by
ti-amie
Info on Interlochen.
https://www.interlochen.org/arts-boardi ... ancial-aid
Inner City Press @innercitypress
Menninger: And is your signature on the 2d page?
Jane: Yes. It's dated 5/7/94.
Menninger: Before you met Jeffrey Epstein, right? Did you apply for financial aid or scholarship?
AUSA: Let them offer it into evidence. Under seal.
Judge Nathan: So ordered.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Court adjourns for the evening.
Cross-examination continues on Wednesday.
by mmmm8 They really just outed this woman, a combination of going to Interlochen and her sister's name. Surely people who know her will be able to guess.
by Fastbackss And the number of siblings. Reddit probably has it solved by now.
As to the earlier comment "where were the parents?" - if you read/listen to accounts of interactions with Michael Jackson, R.Kelly, etc. - it is very common for the parents to ignore the situation - or downplay it due to the brush with fame (and money)
by
ti-amie I was out all morning and I've been a bit distracted breaking Christmas lights. Here's @KlasfeldReports summary of this morning's cross provided by @threadreaderapp
Adam Klasfeld
Good morning from New York.
The third day of Ghislaine Maxwell's trial begins this morning with continuing testimony by "Jane," the first woman prosecutors described at the very start of openings.
Pre-trial proceedings have been underway.
"Jane" testified yesterday that she was living in a "pool house" after meeting Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein at camp.
Maxwell's defense counsel are questioning that testimony about her family's financial difficulties.
As "Jane" has denied the defense attorney's suggestion, the parties are arguing whether the line of questioning is permissible.
After yesterday's testimony by Jeffrey Epstein's pilot, the government released certain exhibits entered into evidence.
Here, Jeffrey Epstein stands in front of his Gulfstream G2B aircraft. He had three. The one that has been dubbed the "Lolita Express" was the Boeing.
Some crucial elements of the testimony of the pilot, Lawrence Visoski, for understanding the ongoing testimony of "Jane":
Visoski recalled meeting "Jane" in approximately the mid-to-late '90s.
"Mr. Epstein brought her to the cockpit and introduced her to me," he said.
The pilot said his impression of her was as a "mature woman with some piercing powder blue eyes."
Visoski said he remembered her as a passenger from Epstein's trip to Traverse City, Mich., for visiting Interlochen, the arts academy for "gifted children."
Visoski confirmed some of the high-profile passengers on Epstein's flights, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump ('more than once, I believe'), Prince Andrew, Itzhak Perlman and others.
(Pictured: Inside the Boeing)
Visoski claimed yesterday never to have seen "sexual activity" on the plane or girls he thought were unaccompanied minors—though he testified he did see "Jane" and Virginia Roberts (aka, Virginia Giuffre).
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
"Jane" is in the witness box.
Maxwell's defense attorney Laura Menninger starts her second day of cross-examination with questioning about Interlochen, the arts academy where "Jane" met Epstein and Maxwell.
By the way, about the "witness box":
Since the age of COVID-19, witnesses have been testifying in federal court inside a Plexiglas booth so they can safely remove their masks — so they can be grilled in accordance with the Sixth Amendment right to confront one's accuser.
—Part of that is observing the facial expressions of the witness.
Menninger tries to undermine "Jane's" account of her difficult family life through school records at Interlochen, like an application describing her "loving family."
Yesterday, "Jane" testified that her mother instructed her not to discuss her feelings and family.
Menninger pivots to "Jane's" first meeting with Epstein and Maxwell in 1994, at the Interlochen arts academy.
The defense attorney says that she has given different accounts of the meeting. An ongoing defense strategy is undermining the women's memories of decades-old events.
Menninger asks if "Jane" remembered testimony being by herself at Jeffrey Epstein's house in Palm Beach.
"Jane" agrees.
The attorney says that she told the government something different and begins reading a document —
— drawing a prosecution objection.
Menninger says that she told the government that she was with her mother and brothers in the beginning.
"Jane" says she doesn't remember that.
"Jane," as the defense attorney tries to undermine her memory:
"Memory's not linear."
Q: The dinner you had at your house was prior to any abuse.
A: That's not true.
Menninger tries to read from a document, sparking an objection from the government.
"Your honor," the prosecutor says, she objects to Menninger "testifying."
Long sidebar.
(Jargon explanation: A sidebar is when the parties confer privately with the judge out of earshot of the jurors, press and public.)
Those are usually to resolve evidentiary issues, and in this trial, they've largely been used to protect the anonymity of the witnesses.
Sometimes those conferences are captured in transcripts, except when they are about sealed matters.
Menninger says "Jane" does not recall whether Maxwell ever touched her.
"That's not true," "Jane" says.
Menninger asks whether she told the government she could not recall that.
"I don't recall."
Menninger asks whether she told the government Maxwell never watched her perform oral sex on Epstein.
"That's correct," "Jane" says.
Same answer when asked to confirm she told the government Maxwell never used sex toys or a vibrator on her.
Remember:
"Jane's" testimony implicating Maxwell, not only in grooming her for Epstein's abuse, but participating in it.
In these exchanges—which I'll await the transcript for in further detail because exact phrasing matters—the defense attorney attacks the crux of that.
Cross-examination resumes:
Menninger pivots to the first time "Jane" says Epstein abused her. She testified that's when Epstein masturbated on her in the Palm Beach pool house.
The lawyer says she told the government in 2019 that it was in New York.
"That is not correct": Jane
Menninger is confronting her with notes from unrecorded interviews with the government.
"Jane" has said repeatedly during cross-ex that the notes were inaccurate.
"This is just someone jotting down notes," she said.
A legal explainer here courtesy of @MitchellEpner, an ex-federal prosecutor who led intake on sex trafficking cases for the District of N.J.
It goes into the admissibility of alleged prior inconsistent statements in government interviews — the heart of this line of questioning.
Image
There's a lot of dispute about whether the notes suggest "Jane" told the government she went to see the "Lion King" on Broadway with Maxwell in New York;
* if so, when they purportedly saw it;
* and whether "Jane's" purported chronology conflicted with its opening date.
Q: You don't recall any abuse happening when you first came to New Mexico, correct?
A: That is not correct.
Under the rules of evidence, these notes can be shown to the witness to refresh her recollection because they cannot be entered as exhibits as verbatim transcripts (which they are not).
Menninger is systematically contrasting "Jane's" testimony what these records reflect.
"Jane" says she was never asked to recruit other girls or directed to have sex with any of Epstein's associates.
Q: "Mr. Epstein introduced you to Donald Trump, correct?"
She says yes.
Pressed by Menninger, "Jane" agrees that she said Epstein drove her Mar-a-Lago in a dark green car when she was 14.
This line of questioning is not explored much further.
Menninger pivots to unrelated allegations of group sexualized massages.
Q: You remember Prince Andrew being on a flight with you?
Yes.
by ti-amie Cross as posted by Matthew Russell Lee for/as @InnerCityPress using @threadreaderapp
Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: You testified yesterday your first has sex with Epstein in his pool house in Florida. But you told the government it was in New York.
Jane: Those are not my notes. I did not write that down and it was not recorded.
Menninger: You told them you only remembered one incident in NY when Ghislaine was present.
Jane: I don't recall.
Menninger: Look at 3509-003. Hasn't your story changed?
Jane: I didn't understand the question.
Menninger: You told the government you flew to NY with Epstein & Ghislaine to see The Lion King.
Jane: I said that but I was incorrect in my timeline. I was 14.
Menninger: You were a student of theater and the arts at the time, correct?
AUSA: Objection as to form.
Judge Nathan called another break, saying that Jane needed a drink of water. Now she's back on the stand.
Menninger: Let's go to your conversation in Feb 2020, about the Lion King.
AUSA: No objection
Menninger: I know Ms. Moe would like to come and do this for me
AUSA Moe: I object to that.
Menninger: But the Lion King on Broadway didn't start until you were 17 years old. Did the government or Mr. Glassman suggest to you that you might have meant the Lion King movie?
AUSA: Objection!
Menninger: So you recall going to the New Mexico range, a giant huge home, correct?
Jane: Like all the homes.
Menninger: And that Jeffrey Epstein's brother went with you, correct?
Jane: I don't recall.
Menninger: You weren't asked to have sex with any of Epstein's friends, were you?
Jane: No.
Menninger: Did Epstein introduce you to people in the arts?
Jane: Not really.
Menninger: To the dean of Interlochen at a cocktail party?
Jane: I don't recall.
Menninger: In 3509-001, you said you met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, before the pool house incident.
Jane: I don't recall.
Menninger: You said Epstein took you in a dark green car to Mar-A-Lago to meeting Donald Trump?
AUSA: Asked and answered and also misleading.
Menninger: You also had some recollections about flying on the private plane with Epstein, right?
Jane: Yes.
Menninger: You said you were asked your weight when you got on the plane, correct?
Jane: Yes.
Menninger: In 2019 before Epstein was arrested you were contacted by the government, right?
Jane: Yes.
Menninger: But you said you were not interested in getting involved.
Jane: Right.
Menninger: Then you hired Mr Glassman, a personal injury lawyer with ads-
AUSA: Objection.
Menninger: Did you see his ads, touting his big verdicts?
Jane: He's a friend of a friend.
Menninger: Is this your contingent fee agreement?
Jane: Yes.
Menninger: You've talked to your ex-boyfriend Matt, right?
Jane: Right.
[Programming note: It seems "Matt" will be the next witness. Judge Nathan has said there is some issue with the jurors' delivered lunches. So this may go a while.]
Menninger: When you were 15 did you take a trip to Italy for a singing competition?
Jane: I may have. I don't remember. I was 15.
Menninger: And at 16, you traveled for a sibling?
Jane: Maybe.
Menninger: And you were in a beauty pageant sponsored by Donald Trump?
Jane: Yes.
Menninger: Do you recall crying that Jeffrey Epstein only gave you $2000 for a dress?
Jane: No.
Menninger: You were on a reality TV show with Matt, right?
Jane: Yes.
Menninger: And there was tension and you cried?
Jane: Reality shows are not really reality.
Menninger: You claimed you were putting a roof over your family's head?
Jane: I don't know if I used those words.
Q: You told that to Matt.
A: They were living in my house.
Menninger: And you demanded money from Ghislaine Maxwell?
Jane: I have a lawyer.
Menninger: And you sought money from the Epstein Compensation Fund - look at Exhibit J-18, at 6. You were offered how much?
Jane: $5 million.
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Lunch recess.
To be absolutely clear, she did not accuse Trump or Andrew of any wrongdoing on the witness stand. She only answered those questions as reflected in the tweets above.
by ti-amie "Jane" cross continues
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
AUSA: You were asked about notes of meetings with the US. Did you speak about everything all at once?
Jane: No. It was too difficult, emotionally, on every level.
AUSA: Then there were fewer of us in the room. Do you know why?
Jane: To make me more comfortable.
by ti-amie More of the cross from this afternoon.
by
ti-amie A summary via @threadreaderapp of @KlasfeldReports posts from this afternoon
There's a lot of dispute about whether the notes suggest "Jane" told the government she went to see the "Lion King" on Broadway with Maxwell in New York;
* if so, when they purportedly saw it;
* and whether "Jane's" purported chronology conflicted with its opening date.
Q: You don't recall any abuse happening when you first came to New Mexico, correct?
A: That is not correct.
Under the rules of evidence, these notes can be shown to the witness to refresh her recollection because they cannot be entered as exhibits as verbatim transcripts (which they are not).
Menninger is systematically contrasting "Jane's" testimony what these records reflect.
"Jane" says she was never asked to recruit other girls or directed to have sex with any of Epstein's associates.
Q: "Mr. Epstein introduced you to Donald Trump, correct?"
She says yes.
Pressed by Menninger, "Jane" agrees that she said Epstein drove her Mar-a-Lago in a dark green car when she was 14.
This line of questioning is not explored much further.
Menninger pivots to unrelated allegations of group sexualized massages.
Q: You remember Prince Andrew being on a flight with you?
Yes.
Lunch recess.
Cross-examination resumes:
Q: You said that you were raised in a household where you'd get in trouble if you said something?
"Jane" asked for clarification about "something."
Q: Something personal.
She replies yes.
Menninger asks if she recalled telling her mother about a teacher pulling her hair.
"Jane" answers yes.
Asked if she recalled her mother filing a lawsuit against the teacher, "Jane" says she didn't know that.
Showing her papers, Menninger asked if they refresh her recollection that her mother sued her teacher.
"No, I had no idea my mother did this," responds "Jane."
"Jane" says that she met Mike Wallace with Jeffrey Epstein in New York.
Menninger says that "Jane" said that was at Mike Wallace's 80th birthday party?
"Jane" agrees.
There are no allegations made about Wallace, either, except a suggestion made by the defense attorney that the date doesn't match up with the account.
Earlier in cross-ex—
Q: You consider yourself an actor?
A: Yes.
Q: An actor portrays a fictional character?
A: Yes.
[...]
Q: You've been an actor for a very long time?
A: Yes.
Q: “You’re able to cry on command.”
A: “No, not always. That not really how it works.”
Cross-ex ends.
Redirect begins.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe to "Jane"—
Q: Have I or any other prosecutor told you what to say on the witness stand?
A: No.
She asks "Jane" what they told her to say.
A: "Just tell the truth."
Asked whether she was able to tell all of the details in her initial meeting with the government, "Jane" emotionally says:
"Because I was standing in a roomful of strangers and telling them the most shameful, deepest secrets that I've been carrying around with me my whole life."
She says a reporter "blackmailed" her:
"He said that court documents with my name was unredacted, and the Epstein 'little black book' was out—"
The defense makes a hearsay objection.
The prosecutor goes about it a different way, eliciting her to testify that the reporter threatened to expose her if she didn't speak to him.
She says she was worried for her career if the information became known.
Asked by the prosecutor about the difference is between acting and testifying, she responds:
She responds: Acting on TV is not real, and testifying in court is.
Asked why she remembers the first time she says Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her more clearly than other events, she responds: "Because it's the beginning of when my life would change forever."
Q: How old were you when you first touched Jeffrey Epstein's penis?
A: 14.
The prosecutor asks about defense attacks of the $5 million settlement she got from the Epstein victims fund, of which she received roughly $2.9 million.
Q: Jane, in your own words, can you tell the jury what that money meant to you?
(She cries, wiping her eyes with a tissue)
"I wish I never received that money in the first place because of what happened," she says.
Her testimony concludes.
Afternoon recess.
The next witness, "Matt," is also testifying under a pseudonym because he's "Jane's" ex-boyfriend; disclosing his name could identify her.
From her testimony:
Q. While you were together, did you ever tell Matt that you'd been sexually abused by Maxwell and Epstein?
A. Yes.
"All rise."
The jury enters.
Judge Nathan says courtroom sketch artists should not precisely draw "Matt's" features, either. (Sketches of "Jane" were obscured at the face.)
He's called to the witness box, is sworn in, and explains the use of the pseudonym.
He tells the jury he's been employed on and off as an actor on a TV show for the past 15 years.
Q: "How do you know Jane?"
A: "She's my ex-girlfriend."
She says they were together between 2006 to 2014, approximately — moving into together one year into the relationship.
"Matt" testifies that "Jane" initially referred to Epstein as her "godfather," who helped pay her family's bills and was "looking out for her family."
Q: Did there come a time when she told you why Jeffrey Epstein gave her money?
A: Yes.
Asked about what she said, he replies: "She never went into detail. She just said that it wasn't pretty."
Q: Did she ever use the word 'massage'?
Defense: Objection—leading
Nathan: Overruled. I'll allow it.
A: Yes.
Did she ever tell you that there was a woman in the house?
A: Yes.
Q: Did she tell you that the woman in the house made her feel comfortable?
A: Yes.
"Matt," about a comment by "Jane":
"She'd just say to me: 'Matt,' the money wasn't (expletive) free."
Ex-federal prosecutor @MitchellEpner, who previously led intake in sex trafficking prosecutions in the District of N.J., offers his analysis on the legal backdrop of "Matt's" testimony.
Maxwell's opened the door, he says.
Extremely fast testimony.
Prosecution wraps shortly.
Maxwell's lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, declines to cross-examine him.
Next witness:
Daniel Besselsen, assistant VP of finance at Interlochen, the arts academy at the center of Jane's story.
Besselsen confirms Epstein was a donor to Interlochen, describes the "Jeffrey Epstein Scholarship Lodge."
A photo of the lodge is entered into evidence.
Proceedings are adjourned for the day.
by mmmm8 Well, at least the jurors are being fed well, if they can stomach it.
by ti-amie Just reading the live tweets is stressful. I can't imagine how hard it is for "Jane".
by
ti-amie mmmm8 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:05 am
Well, at least the jurors are being fed well, if they can stomach it.
They had some great places to eat in the area where the Federal Courthouse is located. They're minutes away from Little Italy and Chinatown.
by ti-amie Inner City Press
@innercitypress
4h
OK - it's US v. #GhislaineMaxwell, Day 4. New witness: Paul Kane of NYC's Professional Children's School...thread below
AUSA: Look at Government Exhibit 721. Do you recognize it?
Kane: An enrollment application for a student.
AUSA: Don't say the name. Is it an accurate copy?
Kane: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection - hearsay!
AUSA: It's a business record.
Judge Nathan: Overruled.
Maxwell's lawyer: Can I question the witness?
Judge Nathan: Go ahead.
Maxwell's lawyer: The Professional Children's School doesn't verify the accuracy of the info on the form, does it?
Kane: I think they do.
Maxwell's lawyer: All of it?
Kane: That, I don't know.
Maxwell's lawyer: So the info--
AUSA: Your Honor, may I?
Judge Nathan: You may.
AUSA: What happens to info coming in?
Kane: Contact the family by phone, then invite them to tour the school and have a conversation.
AUSA: Does the School rely on the form?
Kane: Yes.
[After sidebar, document is in]
AUSA: What grade was the person applying for?
Kane: 12th. Due to "move to New York."
AUSA: Who's listed as person of financial responsibility?
Kane: Mister Jeffrey Epstein.
AUSA: Thanks. No further questions.
Maxwell's lawyer: You have no idea if Mr. Epstein actually paid.
Kane: I do not.
Maxwell's lawyer: And for the mother, does it say unemployed?
Kane: It says self-employed. As an interior decorator.
Maxwell's lawyer: And who is the listed agent?
AUSA: Objection!
Judge Nathan: Just make the jurors look at it.
Maxwell's lawyer: Look the name in the corner. And the name of the prior principal. You don't have to say them for the record. No further questions.
Judge Nathan: Thank you Mr Kane. Next US witness. It's Doctor Lisa Rocchio. "I have a Masters and PhD from U of Rhode Island."
[This could take a while - Inner City Press covered the Daubert hearing to qualify this grooming expert witness innercitypress.com/sdnytrial7maxw…
OK after long presentation of credentials, Rocchio is in as an expert.
AUSA: Did you interview anyone in this case?
Rocchio: No.
AUSA: Does your pay depend on outcome of the trial?
Rocchio: No.
AUSA: What is grooming?
Rocchio: Strategies to get children into sex
Rocchio: I've seen grooming in the Boy Scouts through a special camping trip. Or jewelry, anything to make the children feel they are appreciated.
[During the Daubert hearing, before trial, Maxwell's lawyer asked, does this mean that grandparents are grooming?]
AUSA: How common is it for a child to be repeatedly abused by the same perp?
Rocchio: Very common. It's by people close to the child.
AUSA: What is a grooming environment?
Rocchio: The perp develops trust with people around the child, for example with the parents
[Meanwhile, during a long non-public sidebar, Inner City Press is covering a criminal proceeding @sdnylive with a public call in line, which Inner City Press requested for this #MaxwellTrial but was denied, with claim it'd be impossible (?) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
AUSA: Are victims of child sexual abuse likely to report it to the police?
Rocchio: No.
AUSA: How do they talk about it?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection - no foundation.
Judge Nathan: I'll sustain. Can you re-phrase?
AUSA: What is the long term impact?
Rocchio: They are at higher risk for adverse outcomes.
AUSA: Nothing further.
Judge Nathan: Let's take our break.
p1
by ti-amie p2
Maxwell's lawyer: Doctor Rocchio, you have a $45,000 contract for this, correct?
Rocchio: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: If one had a brain injury, it might be hard to remember, right?
AUSA: Objection.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
Maxwell's lawyer: Alcohol would harm recall too, yes?
AUSA: Objection.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
Maxwell's lawyer: Are you familiar with confabulation?
AUSA: Objection!
Judge: Overruled.
Maxwell's lawyer: It's filling in the gaps.
AUSA: Objection.
Judge: Sustained.
Maxwell's lawyer: My grandfather liked to take me to the Bronx Zoo. Was that grooming?
[Yes, he went there.]
Next US witness is Juan Patricio Alessi.
AUSA: Where do you come from?
Alessi: Quito, Ecuador.
AUSA: When did you move to Florida?
Alessi: Early 1984. I worked for a wealthy family in Palm Beach, I was a maintenance guy. Then I worked for Mister Jeffrey Epstein
AUSA: How did you meet Epstein?
Alessi: I was working on Mister Wexner's mother's house.
[!]
AUSA: Who is in this photo?
Alessi: Mr. Jeffrey Epstein.
AUSA: When Mr. Epstein was in Palm Beach, where did you sleep?
Alessi: I had a room there.
AUSA: Who else worked there?
Alessi: I brought my wife to help me. And other girls.
AUSA: How did things changed after Ms. Maxwell got involved?
Alessi: Things were less cordial. Less conversation. I was not allowed to see Mr. Epstein anymore, unless he asked me question. Ms. Maxwell said, Don't look at his eyes, "look at another part of him."
And with that, and a blue print of the house on the screens, Judge Nathan says: The jurors' lunch has arrived. Let's break.
[Programming note: thinking break was at 1, will be on Las Vegas radio at 1:10. But will find a way to resume thread when Alessi continues
/Programming note: radio interview done and we are back:
Alessi is describing Epstein's Palm Beach home in great detail. Presumably it will become relevant in the testimony of Survivor / Witnesses 2, 3 and 4.
AUSA: Pull up Gov Exhibit 297. Mr. Alessi what is this?
by ti-amie p3
Alessi: The 2d floor. That is toward Mr. Epstein's bedroom. There was a huge bathroom.
AUSA: And what's that other bathroom?
Alessi: That's Ms. Maxwell's bathroom.
AUSA: But they both came off the master bedroom?
Alessi. Yes.
AUSA: Where did Ms. Maxwell sleep in the Palm Beach house?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection!
But it's allowed.
Alessi: She slept in Mr. Epstein's bedroom.
AUSA: How many times did you see females by Mr. Epstein's pool?
Alessi: 100s.
AUSA: How often were they topless?
Alessi: 75% of the time.
AUSA: How about Little St. James?
Alessi: I was on a cruise with my wife to St. Thomas. They picked us up & showed us Little St. James. It was huge.
AUSA: Did you visit any Ms Maxwell property?
Alessi: Her townhome in London. She invited us. It had a red front door
AUSA: What conversations did you have with Ms. Maxwell about this booklet?
Alessi: I told her I could not do this checklist, with all my other work.
AUSA: Show them Gov Exhibit 606.
AUSA: How long is this book?
Alessi: 58 pages.
AUSA: What is it?
Alessi: List of what were supposed to do to maintain the house.
by ti-amie Alessi testimony continues:
Now Maxwell's lawyer will question Alessi about the book of instructions.
Maxwell's lawyer: When you left, you didn't have this in your possession did you?
Alessi: No I did not.
Maxwell's lawyer: But this book was created after you left, at least by the date on it.
Maxwell's lawyer: We object to 606.
AUSA: He identified pages.
Judge Nathan: I'm overruling the objection. 606 is admitted.
AUSA: We you recognize the address at the bottom?
ALessi: Mr. Epstein's residence.
AUSA: What does this instruction saw?
Alessi: "Do not discuss your personal problems with guests."
AUSA: And this one?
Alessi: "Respect their privacy."
AUSA: There's a reference to the JE and the GM telephone directories. What were they?
Alessi: Books with hundreds and hundreds of names. Directions and addreses.
Alessi: They were 2 inches thick. Full of names.
AUSA [for some reason turning away from the 2 black books, at least for now] Let's turn to page 23, about Ms. Maxwell's desk. What does it say?
Alessi: Please the directory to the right of the phone.
Assistant US Attorney: What is this?
Alessi: Instructions for serving breakfast. Sometimes at 5 am.
AUSA: Who else worked there?
Alessi: Chefs. My wife. Ms Maxwell's assistant. Then Sarah Kellen.
by ti-amie
Same testimony via @innercitypress
Alessi: Two females seemed to be underage.
AUSA: Don't say their names. Jurors, look at the binders under your chairs. GX 12.
Alessi: Can I have a cup of water?
Then: AUSA: Is that name the person we'll call Jane?
Alessi: Yes. I met Virginia Roberts too.
AUSA: When you met Jane how old was she?
Juan Alessi: Appeared 14 or 15. She was beautiful, beautiful eyes, long brunette hair, very pleasant. Three times she was there with her mother. Then, without her mother. Many times.
by ti-amie @innercitypress via @threadreaderapp aggregator
AUSA: How would Jane get to the house?
Juan Alessi: I would pick her up, and the direction of Mr. Epstein or Ms. Maxwell.
AUSA: When did you meet Ms Virginia Roberts?
Alessi: I was at Mar-A-Lago with Ms. Maxwell. I waited in the car like the driver
Alessi: It was a hot day. Ms. Maxwell said, Stop, John, Stop. I did and Ms Maxwell went up to this girl.
AUSA: Where was this girl?
Alessi: She was coming down the ramp.
AUSA: How did she look?
Alessi: Young.
Alessi: Then by 5 pm I saw her [Virginia Roberts] back at the house.
AUSA: Show Exhibits 113 and 114 only to the witness and parties... How old did you think Ms Roberts was?
Alessi: 14 or 15.
AUSA: Did Ms. Maxwell ever instruct you to pick up Ms. Roberts?
A: Yes.
AUSA: Did you ever see Ms. Roberts at Mr. Epstein's home with luggage?
Alessi: Yes. I drove them to the plane.
AUSA: How many massages would Mr. Epstein get a day?
Alessi: Before I left, thee a day. I called whoever they told me to call.
by ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Quick clarification and correction:
Pagliuca earlier was not engaged in cross-examination. There was a voir dire over an exhibit. This is still direct examination.
by ti-amie More from Mr. Alessi via @innercitypress
AUSA: Did the phone books we discussed have names for massage in them?
Alessi: Yes.
AUSA: Did you see Jane's name in it?
Alessi: Yes. The books were updated twice a year.
AUSA: What did you do with them, when new ones were made?
Alessi: Just throw them away.
AUSA: I have a physical exhibit, GX 52. May I approach the witness? Do you recognize it?
AUSA: What is it?
Alessi: It is the directory.
AUSA: Did you review it last night?
Alessi: I did.
AUSA: Every page?
Alessi: Yes.
AUSA: How many names?
Alessi: Many. Many. Many.
AUSA: Is this the same you saw when you were that or a later version?
Alessi: A later version.
AUSA: Pull up Exhibit 52a. It is a sealed exhibit.
Judge Nathan: Let's take a break.
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
Wait, still no podcast - with jury out, lawyers' arguments continue.
Assistant US Attorney says "We are not offering the full exhibit 52 [the black book].
[Why not?]
Now break is taken -
All rise!
by ti-amie Again from @innercitypress
...Now Alessi back.
AUSA: How often was the directory updated?
Alessi: Twice a year. And the names of new employees were added, and those who left were taken out.
AUSA: Is Sarah Kellen in this version?
Objection - leading.
Judge Nathan: I'll overrule that.
[Long sidebar, after which Maxwell's lawyer does the questioning]
Maxwell's lawyer: As you sit here today, 19 years later, you have no idea where Exhibit 52 has been?
Maxwell's lawyer: You said the book was two inches thick. But Exhibit 52 is a quarter inch thick, correct?
Alessi: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: The book you were talking about was from New York, right?
Alessi: Yes.
by ti-amie from @innercitypress
Maxwell's lawyer: There are a number of pages without dates next to the names. Do you know that?
Alessi: I guess so.
Judge Nathan: Exhibits admitted.
AUSA: They are sealed - not to be put on screens, binders only. More more questions:
AUSA: What supplies did you buy for the massages?
Alessi: No oils, I was -
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection!
AUSA: Did Ms Maxwell give you supplies?
Alessi: Exotic oils for other countries.
AUSA: Was Mr. Epstein's door open during the massages?
Alessi: Never. Afterward I went in with gloves.
AUSA: Why?
Alessi: To clean up.
AUSA: What did you see after the massages? Towels?
Alessi: Yes. But not all of the massages.
AUSA: Do any incidents stand out in your mind?
Alessi: I found a large dildo.
AUSA Comey: What did you do with it?
Alessi: Wash it up.
AUSA: Where did you put the dildo?
Alessi: In Ms. Maxwell's bathroom. In a basket.
AUSA: How did you know where to put it?
Alessi: I knew everything going on in the house.
AUSA: What else was in the basket?
Alessi: I saw pornographic tapes.
AUSA: How often did you see the dildo?
Alessi: At least five times.
AUSA: And the other one, the massager, did the ball at the end vibrate?
Alessi: Yes. I would put it at the top of Mr. Epstein's dresser.
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
AUSA: Were you questioned by the police after you took $6300 from Mr. Epstein?
Alessi: Yes.
AUSA: Were you arrested?
Alessi: No.
AUSA: Nothing further.
Maxwell's lawyers: We'll start our cross tomorrow [it's 4:48
Good decision?]
Story soon
by ti-amie Klasfeld is clearer on this last point.
by ti-amie What Matthew Russell Lee(@innercitypress) and Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) is not easy. I have to thank both of them for allowing their live tweets to be aggregated under @threadreaderapp. A lot of folks don't allow that.
by ti-amie From Inner City Press:
Maxwell's lawyer (before jury comes in) Seeing semen on the table is going to be prejudicial.
AUSA: It was a white stain. It is entirely probative as to whether these massages were just messages or were in fact sexual.
Judge Nathan: I would permit lab tests
Assistant US Attorney: The fact that Mr. Epstein had a collection of school girl uniforms is relevant.
Maxwell's lawyer: This has little connection Ms. Maxwell and is prejudicial.
AUSA: School girl costumes, small ones, were found in the massage room.
Maxwell's lawyer: They should not be described as school girl uniforms.
AUSA: I'll just lay a foundation then ask the witness about them.
Judge Nathan: You could say, Without describing them, did you find these items.
Maxwell's lawyer: The interior and art work changed, by 2019. The witness we call "Jane" said it was creepy, with drawing of monsters on the walls and naked women. We think these photos should be excluded. The photos of nude girls in the massage room
Judge Nathan: Maybe there's a way to position two screens, and only show them to the jurors. I'll ask Ms. Williams to ask the A/V people. Can show video so that only the jurors can see it, and no one else? We'll see. Please bring in the jurors.
Judge Nathan: Mr. Alessi, you may return to the stand.
Jury enters. All rise!
Maxwell's lawyer: Mr. Alessi, you said you are called Juan but don't you sometimes say, "I am John"?
ALessi: I am John, in English.
Maxwell's lawyer: Ms. Maxwell speaks Spanish and called you Juan. You did not take it as an insult, no?
Alessi: No, I did not.
Maxwell's lawyer: You took $6300 dollars, right?
Alessi: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: But didn't you lie - when you stole twice, in fact?
Alessi: I did not lie.
Maxwell's lawyer: Didn't you try to steal a gun? Didn't you steal over $5000 to pay for the immigration papers of your girlfriend?
Alessi: It was not my girlfriend.
Maxwell's lawyer: Police Officer Dawson questioned you?
Alessi: No, I went to him.
Maxwell's lawyer: You told him you went in to steal a gun.
Alessi: I don't recall.
Maxwell's lawyer: You might have said it, but now you don't recall?
Alessi: That's it.
Maxwell's lawyer: & you went back once again to steal money?
Alessi: I did it one time & I think that is what I told the police.
Maxwell's lawyer: You went through the sliding glass door and stole $5600 from Mr. Epstein's briefcase, $100 bills in a white envelope?
Maxwell's lawyer: Show the witness 3504-002, deposition transcript. I move for admission under Rule 801.
[Note: "(A) is inconsistent with the declarant’s testimony & was given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding or in a deposition;"
Maxwell's lawyer: You stole $6000, when you owned properties valued at $1 million.
Alessi: I sold those properties, to buy the property for the multi-family.
Maxwell's lawyer: Let's look again at 3504-002, deposition page 145.
[Note: During all this, Ghislaine Maxwell is leaning back and even masked, seems pleased with herself. When first we practice to deceive...]
Maxwell's lawyer: I'm having trouble seeing in here.
ALERT: Maxwell's lawyer has just openly said the real name of one of the pseudonymous survivor witnesses.
Judge Nathan: Your are admonished to abide by my rulings.
AUSA: May we approach?
Sidebar begins...
Returning from the sidebar, Maxwell's lawyer pointedly says, "Mr. Alessi, you testified about when JANE met Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell."
Alessi: In this testimony I mistook the two --
Maxwell's lawyer: In 2016 you were directed to the name JANE and you said No
Now Maxwell's lawyer is cross examining Juan Alessi about Epstein's Palm Beach house. Unclear what Judge Nathan will do about Team Maxwell repeatedly blurting out the real names of pseudonymous survivor(s).
Maxwell's lawyer: Do you see the notation, new moldings in the bedrooms?
Alessi: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: And during construction, no one live in its?
Alessi: No, during part of it Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell lived there.
Maxwell's lawyer: You were asked if JANE was driving and you said you never saw Jane driving a car. Those are all questions about Jane, right?
Alessi: I think so.
Maxwell's lawyer: Let's take the break.
Judge Nathan: OK.
Maxwell's lawyer: I'm asking about what you [Alessi] said --
AUSA: We ask for the whole thing to be read.
Maxwell's lawyer: So you say, Summer, I remember, I was sweating like hell in the car waiting for Ms. Maxwell to come out of the car.
[This could take a while]
Maxwell's lawyer: Mr. Alessi, didn't you keep a Rolodex of the girls?
Alessi: No, of the massage therapists.
Maxwell's lawyer: You got referrals for massage therapists?
Alessi: No sir.
Maxwell's lawyer: You said, One of Jeffrey Epstein's friends would say, I got a good massage and you'd say, please give me the answer.
Alessi: I never -
Maxwell's lawyer: You previously said this under oath. May I continue your Honor?
Judge Nathan: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: Isn't it true that Mr Epstein bought other women to the house and told you to remove the pictures of Ms. Maxwell from the house?
Alessi: I did what he told me to do.
Maxwell's lawyer: Why did you THINK you were taking Ms. Maxwell's picture down, when Mr. Epstein had the other women over?
Alessi: I have no idea.
Maxwell's lawyer: Mr. Alessi, as Mr. Epstein's direction you called women and set up massages, correct?
Alessi: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: And that doesn't make you guilty of sex trafficking, does it?
Assistant US Attorney: Objection!
Maxwell's lawyer: And when you cleaned the massage room, you have saw signs of violence, right? No one complained to your of that?
Alessi (voice rising) No but I wish they had, I would have done something.
[Some laughter]
[Programming note, as Alessi ends - some may not believe his statements that he didn't know, or especially the claim near the end of cross examination that if only the victim has complained, he would have acted. Some, it seems, found that laughable. Discretely]
AUSA: No re-direct.
Judge Nathan: Next witness:
It's Gregory Parkinson, questioned by AUSA Maurene Comey. The topic, we believe, will be search of Epstein's home.
But first, his credential and career. This could take a while.
Parkinson: I participated in a search in Palm Beach.
AUSA Maurene Comey: What is this?
Parkinson: A map or aerial view.
AUSA: Had you been there before?
Parkinson: Yes, on a report of a theft of currency. I met Mr. Jeffrey Epstein.
Now before it gets into what was found during the search - Judge Nathan calls the lunch break; A/V will set up screens only jurors can see. There is a press conference at SDNY prosecutors' office on another topic but thread will continue - watch this site.
by
ti-amie From Adam Klasfeld:
Good morning from New York.
Yesterday, Jeffrey Epstein's ex-house manager backed up testimony by Ghislaine Maxwell's accuser "Jane" in important respects. He said he saw "Jane" with the duo without her mother present.
The government concluded the direct examination of that house manager, Juan Alessi, ended on Thursday.
Cross-examination kicks off this morning.
In pre-trial proceedings, the parties have been arguing about the admission of certain evidence — such as schoolgirl costumes found in Jeffrey Epstein's massage room and art sexualizing minors.
More on that later:
This is being debated now because the upcoming witnesses are expected to be Florida law enforcement.
Alessi testified yesterday about remembering seeing two girls in Epstein's house who appeared to be minors: "Jane," who testified earlier this week.
The other was Virginia Giuffre, whose civil suit against Maxwell helped spark her criminal prosecution.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
The witness is on the stand.
Pagliuca's cross-examination begins for the defense.
He asks Alessi about testimony that Epstein and Maxwell both called him "John," not "Juan."
Alessi agrees that everyone called him John, and he didn't take it as disrespectful.
Alessi conceded at the end of direct examination that he stole $6,300 from Epstein, which he returned.
Pagliuca is rattling off what he describes as other alleged thefts.
Alessi replies: "That's not true."
Q: Do you remember telling him that stole money to pay for the girlfriend's immigration papers?
A: First of all, she was not my girlfriend [...] We were not involved.
Q: Is it true that you stole the money, to pay for the immigration papers?
A: Yes.
Alessi concedes that he testified on Sept. 8, 2009 that he stole from Epstein at least twice.
"I guess it was," he said.
Pagliuci moves for the admission of that testimony.
Q: You weren't poor when you went into Mr. Epstein's house in 2003, and you stole the money?
A: I wasn't poor but the money was sequestered because I was going through a divorce.
Pagliuca turns back to Alessi's testimony about Jane.
Q: Isn't it true that you met Jane in 1998 and 2000?
A: That's not true.
Maxwell's lawyer just said Jane's real name and was admonished by Judge Nathan. I won't be repeating it here.
Pagliuca moves onto Alessi's testimony that Jane would see Epstein and Maxwell without her mother present.
Q: When Mr. Epstein was going to be in the residence, he wanted you and your wife there?
Only us. No contractors in the house.
Pagliuca asks whether he had to be there 24 hours a day on these occasions.
"Yes, it was slavery," Alessi says.
Alessi starts to get testy as Pagliuca asks if Epstein liked to show off the Palm Beach property to famous visitors.
"I don't know if he liked to show off that property," he snaps.
The dispute is over what he knew Epstein "liked" to do.
Alessi says of Epstein: "He had very little contact with me in the later years."
Pagliuca calls that inconsistent with his prior testimony that his direct supervisor was "Mr. Epstein."
"He would deal with me directly, and if he was not available, Ms. Maxwell."
Pagliuca's questioning turns to the "Household Manual," which has this bullet point under "Grooming & Guest Relations":
"Remember that you see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing, except to answer a question directed at you. Respect their privacy."
Cross-examination resumes with questioning about Virginia Roberts (aka, Virginia Giuffre).
Alessi testified that he met Virginia at Mar-a-Lago.
Alessi says he doesn't know whether Ghislaine Maxwell went in for a treatment or not.
Pagliuca says that he previously testified that Maxwell did.
On the weather that day Alessi says he met Virginia Roberts at Mar-a-Lago:
Q: You recalled that it was very hot out.
A: I recalled that very much.
They are disputing whether he said the meeting happened in 2001 or 2002.
Pagliuca has been grilling Alessi as to whether his testimony about this encounter changed in subtle ways over the years, e.g. whether Maxwell got a treatment then.
Q: That's when Ms. Maxwell had her treatment, right?
A: I don't know what she had. I'd never seen the treatments.
Alessi on Epstein: "He never shared anything about his personal life with me."
"He never suggested, implied or tell me anything about it."
Alessi agreed after being asked on cross-examination that he said Epstein asked him to take down pictures of Maxwell when other women visited the house.
Q: Why did you think he told you to take her pictures down?
A: I had no idea, sir.
Pagliuca asks if a number of foreign people visited the house, including people with accents. Alessi agrees.
A: "English accents. French accents. Italian accents."
Q: Lots of different accents?
Alessi answers in the affirmative.
Pagliuca asks Alessi whether he ever arranged professional massages for Epstein at The Breakers at Palm Beach.
After Pagliuca asks whether these arrangements made Alessi a sex trafficker, the prosecutor objects.
Sustained.
(Context: Those massages in question were professional messages from a Palm Beach spa.)
Pagliuca asks whether he ever heard someone looking afraid, screaming or in distress.
"No, sir. Never."
The lawyer asks if he ever saw any signs that anyone was hurt or injured during these massages.
He replies no.
Pagliuca asks if anyone ever complained to him.
"I wish they would have," he says, "because I would have done something to stop it."
But the witness says no, nobody ever complained.
Q: When you were working for Mr. Epstein, you didn't have any doubt that the girls were provided for massages were not of proper age, correct?
Prosecutor: I'm going to object to form.
Judge: Sustained.
Asked whether he believed the people sent to perform sessions on Epstein were "of age," Alessi responds: "I believed so."
Cross examination concludes.
No redirect.
Alessi steps down.
The government calls their next witness: Gregory Parkinson, a crime scene investigator.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Parkinson," AUSA says, a few minutes before noon.
"Good afternoon," Parkinson replies, as the morning ends.
Now retired, Parkinson worked as a crime scene manager with the Palm Beach Police Department.
The government introduces a map of Palm Beach with a red dot that the witness identifies as the El Brillo property.
Parkinson gives jurors the lay of the land.
Testimony turns to Parkinson's visit to Epstein's property, 358 El Brillo Way.
Parkinson describes his search of Epstein's Palm Beach property on Oct. 20, 2005:
He says he went into the:
* Garden room, on the south side, passed into
* The Lake Room, which was like an office and a library, and also
* walked into the kitchen area.
Parkinson says that evidence was transferred to the FBI in 2006.
Parkinson describes a photo submitted into evidence: Epstein's kitchen.
Next photo: Another view of the same room.
Lunch recess.
To be continued...
The afternoon session begins:
Parkinson is viewing and being questioned about a video of a walk-through of Epstein's Palm Beach residence.
Parkinson describes a photograph of Pope John Paul with Jeffrey Epstein.
Parkinson: "That is a picture of Fidel Castro with Jeffrey Epstein."
by ti-amie @KlasfeldReports continued
The government calls their next witness: Gregory Parkinson, a crime scene investigator.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Parkinson," AUSA says, a few minutes before noon.
"Good afternoon," Parkinson replies, as the morning ends.
Now retired, Parkinson worked as a crime scene manager with the Palm Beach Police Department.
The government introduces a map of Palm Beach with a red dot that the witness identifies as the El Brillo property.
Parkinson gives jurors the lay of the land.
Testimony turns to Parkinson's visit to Epstein's property, 358 El Brillo Way.
Parkinson describes his search of Epstein's Palm Beach property on Oct. 20, 2005:
He says he went into the:
* Garden room, on the south side, passed into
* The Lake Room, which was like an office and a library, and also
* walked into the kitchen area.
Parkinson says that evidence was transferred to the FBI in 2006.
Parkinson describes a photo submitted into evidence: Epstein's kitchen.
Next photo: Another view of the same room.
Lunch recess.
To be continued...
The afternoon session begins:
Parkinson is viewing and being questioned about a video of a walk-through of Epstein's Palm Beach residence.
Parkinson describes a photograph of Pope John Paul with Jeffrey Epstein.
Parkinson: "That is a picture of Fidel Castro with Jeffrey Epstein."
The video, which the press and public cannot see, turns to the second floor of Epstein's Palm Beach residence.
by ti-amie From earlier today:
by
ti-amie @KlasfeldReports continued
Deleted a tweet with a generalized description of the photos and art that prosecutors said authorities found in Epstein's house.
Instead, I'm sharing my colleague's story that has this in greater detail.
"Maxwell prosecutors: ‘sexualized’ photo of young girl displayed outside Epstein bedroom," @vicbekiempis reports.
A tour through several photographs and art.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... photograph
by ti-amie Via Matthew Russell Lee as @innercitypress
by ti-amie @KlasfeldReports continued
AUSA is leading the witness through photographs, which are being openly displayed.
Witness on one of them: "This is a view from the garden room, standing at the [...] southeast, looking at the northwest."
(Jurors are being asked to privately view another exhibit.)
Mid-afternoon recess.
Service advisory: Much of this testimony is visual, including of sealed exhibits that are not available to the press and public.
Live-tweets will be sporadic.
Judge Nathan on the video:
"I don't see why a public version can't be made," in redacted form, to protect the privacy of "a few individuals."
Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim tells the judge that sealing the roughly 40-minute video conveys a public impression that the house was a "domicile of debauchery."
Only a couple of images in the video were at issue, she said.
Court is back in session after a long recess.
by ti-amie The 58 page handbook Mr. Juan Alessi referred to yesterday has been released. Or something.
by ti-amie Inner City Press
@innercitypress
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: You previously investigated a burglary there, correct?
Parkinson: True.
Everdell: And Mr. Epstein said that several thousand dollars had been stolen, right?
Parkinson: True.
by ti-amie
I wonder what he finds humorous in this situation?
by ti-amie
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
AUSA: What were you looking for, during the search?
Dawson: Massage tables and oil. Sex toys. There were a lot of photos of nude females. We seized a phone book, a massage table, photo of a nude female, a sex toy called the torpedo
[Flashes on screen & is gone]
Anyone who has seen "Requiem for a Dream" knows about this particular sex toy and its uses.
by
ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
Judge Nathan: "We're done for the night."
She is prompt about stopping proceedings at 5 p.m.
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
Judge Nathan: We're done for the week. Obey my instructions. Oh and by the way, we will not sit Dec 13, 14 or 15... Why, is not explained. Some letters due Sat & Sunday, both at 8 pm.
All rise!
It's done. #MaximumMaxwell to be updated
by
ti-amie Lisa Bloom lists some things that I may have missed during this week. Interesting point of view from her.
@Lisa Bloom via @threadreaderapp
My top ten disturbing, outrageous moments from the Ghislaine Maxwell trial this week:
10. There were pictures of topless girls, taken by amateur photographer Ghislaine, adorning her desk.
(And throughout Epstein’s revolting homes.)
9. Defense gets likeable maintenance man to admit he sometimes, when instructed, scheduled massages, paid the girls, drove Ghislaine to find girls to give massages, then:
“Does that make you guilty of sex trafficking?”
Objection sustained, but the point was made.
8. Driver testifies employees were instructed never to look Epstein directly in the eyes.
(Because Epstein would melt?)
7. Driver testifies that in the beginning of his employment with Epstein (1994ish), Epstein would have a girl come to his Palm Beach house about once a day.
By the end, 2002, it was THREE times a day.
(I thought about my clients who were lured in for this, devastatingly.)
6. Driver testifies that after Epstein’s “massages” he’d clean up towels, a large dildo, multiple vibrators, porn tapes, a black vinyl costume.
5. Driver testifies that he took Ghislaine to Mar a Lago. She saw a young girl, told him to stop, jumped out and went to speak to her.
The girl was Virginia Roberts, her life forever changed from that chance meeting.
4. The defense in her opening statement calling Jeffrey Epstein a 21st century James Bond.
3. A defense attorney today being warned by the judge not to use Jane’s real name.
Then he immediately blurted out Jane’s real name.
2. Victim “Jane” testifying about the time that Jeffrey Epstein took her to Mar a Lago and introduced her to Donald Trump.
She was underage at the time.
And what I found to be the most chilling moment in the entire week of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial I observed:
1. “Jane” to her boyfriend years ago about all of the money that Epstein paid for her acting classes:
“The money wasn’t (expletive) free, Matt.”
by ti-amie I would really hate to be a juror on this case.
I also don't understand the focus on Mr. Alessi's theft. Is what he testified to invalidated by his admitted theft and repayment? Are they trying to say, as I was told when I was growing up "a liar will steal"? Right now it looks like it's okay to molest young women as long as you don't steal. Sheesh.
by
mmmm8 ti-amie wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:09 pm
I would really hate to be a juror on this case.
I also don't understand the focus on Mr. Alessi's theft. Is what he testified to invalidated by his admitted theft and repayment? Are they trying to say, as I was told when I was growing up "a liar will steal"? Right now it looks like it's okay to molest young women as long as you don't steal. Sheesh.
I think it's that he was lying about how many times he had stolen, to show he's not trustworthy.
I didn't know there were inflatable massage tables, so that's something...
by ti-amie From @KlasfeldReports via @threadreaderapp
Pretrial proceedings are about to begin.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan is on the bench.
The judge says the next anticipated witness is "Kate," who is one of the witnesses against Maxwell. The defense says that she was over the age of consent, and there are arguments as to the scope of her testimony.
Judge Nathan said she will tell the jury: "I instruct you that the witness is not a victim of the crimes charged in the indictment."
(So, though 'Kate' was one of four accusers, I am referring her to a witness here.)
Judge Nathan orders redacting the photographs on the wall of Epstein's massage room. She will also exclude photographs of vibrators of various sizes, which she says have "little if any relevance" and could "confuse" the jury.
The schoolgirl outfits may be able to come in if the witness connects them to the permissible time frame of the indictment.
(Explainer as to some of the admissibility questions: The search of Epstein's Palm Beach house was in 2005, after the time period of the indictment.
The allegations of the indictment end in 2004.
Maxwell's defense team has made admissibility arguments on that basis.)
As to the vibrators ruling, the juror was allowed to see similar pieces of evidence.
(...)
The jury enters.
Judge Nathan informs them that the parties agreed to stipulate to the remaining testimony of Sgt. Dawson, the final witness from last week.
Judge Nathan instructs the jury that "Kate" is not a victim of the crimes charged in the indictment, and the government has been instructed not to testify about the details of any sexual contact with Epstein.
Direct examination begins:
Q: "Kate," do you recognize that?
A: Yes.
Asked what it is, she replies: "It's my driver's license."
Submitted under seal and shown to the jury.
"Kate": "I had been dating a man, and we had taken a trip to Paris."
She says she met Maxwell there. She says she was approximately 17 years old.
"We spoke about the evening and where we were headed to, out for the evening. We spoke about where I lived."
"Kate" says Maxwell invited her to tea at her house.
"She seemed very exciting. She seemed to be everything I wanted to be," she says.
"Kate" recalls photographs of a slightly older man with "peppered hair," "greying hair."
It was Jeffrey Epstein, she says.
Kate: "I had a really lovely time, and I felt special. And I felt..."
(Deep exhale)
"—that I found a new connection that could be very meaningful for me."
Kate: "I left there feeling exhilarated," like someone wanted to be her friend.
Kate quoting Maxwell and Epstein: "She said that he was a philanthropist and that he liked to help young people."
"Kate": "She said that I was exactly the kind of person that he would help."
She says she was 17 and that she was "lonely" and "hadn't found a group of friends yet."
Q: Did there come a time when you met Epstein?
A: Yes.
Kate on her memory of meeting Epstein: "He seemed to be in his 40s."
Kate on Maxwell's "She said 'This is the girl that I told you about'" and "that I was strangely strong for my size."
Asked what her size was, she responds she was about 95 lbs.
"She said, 'Why don't you give his feet a little squeeze to show him how strong you are?"
She says she did.
"Kate" says that Epstein's massage therapist canceled and Maxwell asked if she could fill in.
Q: Were you a massage therapist at the time?
A (faintly): No.
Maxwell's lawyer: "Objection. Sustained."
(Correcting herself)
"Objection. Leading."
Judge Nathan: I'll allow it.
Q: What was Epstein wearing under the robe?
A: He was naked.
She says that Maxwell gave her massage oil and then closed the door.
Q: During the massage, did Epstein initiate sexual contact with you?
A: Yes.
(Per court's ruling, she can't describe details.)
Kate recalls Maxwell asking her "How'd it go?" and "Did you have fun?"
Q: What was Epstein wearing?
A: He was naked.
Asked where Maxwell was, she replied she was in the doorway.
Then came another massage and sex act.
Q: What if anything did Maxwell say to you after the massage?
She says Maxwell told her "Did you have fun?" and "You're such a good girl."
Kate: "She sounded really pleased, and I was pleased that she was pleased."
Connecting to one of the evidentiary issues described during pre-trial proceedings:
Q: What were you given to wear?
A: I was given a schoolgirl outfit.
"Kate" describes it as a short pleated skirt, white socks, white panties and a shirt. This happened in Palm Beach, she says.
Q: Why did you put on the schoolgirl outfit?
A: I didn't know how to say no to that. I didn't know anybody in Florida. I had never been to Palm Beach or Florida before. I wasn't sure if I said no if I would have to leave or what consequence there would be for not doing it.
Q: Did Epstein engage in a sex act with you?
A (softly): Yes.
(Details of sexual contact are not being elicited pursuant to court order.)
"Kate": "She asked me if I had fun and told me I was such a good girl and told me I was one of his favorites."
"Kate" is being asked about going to Epstein's island, saying he called it "Little St. Jeff."
She was in her early 20s at the time, she said.
"Kate" on her recollections of the island: "I remember seeing a blonde slim girl, who seemed far younger than me at the time, very young."
"Kate" says she was addicted to cocaine, alcohol and sleeping pills.
(This is being elicited on direct examination, and Maxwell's defense attorney said in opening she "used drugs during the period of time" and "that it fogged
her memory.")
Asked whether her memories have changed, as the defense asserts, "Kate" denies it.
"The memories that I have of significant events of my life have never changed," she says.
She adds she may initially have "missed" certain memories that she later recalls.
She says "I asked to testify under a pseudonym because I have a child" and she doesn't want the child to be associated with her testimony.
by ti-amie This is from @KlasfeldReports Friday recap:
by
ti-amie Matthew Russell Lee for/as
http://InnerCityPress.com
Now Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim cross examination of Witness Kate:
Sternheim: You had a beautiful mother, didn't you?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: And your step father was rich and you lived in the Belgravia section of London, didn't you?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were an international model?
Kate: I was a model.
Sternheim: You were dating an older, prominent gentleman who was an Oxford classmate of Ghislaine, correct?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were a model for a UK version of Victoria's Secret?
Kate: No. The company failed almost right way.
Sternheim: But you were a lingerie model?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were in a piano bar and were discovered by the musician Seal, right?
Kate: No.
Sternheim: But you said that. You acted in movies?
Kate: I did not have speaking roles.
Sternheim: You were in a movie with a very well known UK actor, correct?
Kate: Yes
Sternheim: You spoke publicly, in your own name, in this courthouse, right?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were invited by a judge in this courthouse, Judge Berman, to speak, and you spoke, right?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: And you've spoke with Virginia Robert Giuffre?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You used drugs for 10 years, right?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: And you dated other men, right?
Kate: Yes, I dated men.
Sternheim: And you even married one of them?
Kate: Are you asking me if I've been married?
Sternheim: And you were with a prominent restauranteur?
Kate: I was with a man who owned 2 restaurants.
Sternheim: Didn't a tabloid encourage you to get a man connected to the royal family to buy cocaine?
Kate: Not exactly.
Sternheim: And that became a big tabloid spectacular, right?
Kate: I suppose.
Sternheim: When were you last in contact with Epstein?
Kate: 30s.
Sternheim: Give me a date.
Kate: I don't have a date.
Sternheim: How old are you?
Kate: 44.
Sternheim: Aren't you trying to get a victim's visa? Isn't this your name?
Kate: My visa application is base on extraordinary ability.
Sternheim: Which one?
Kate: Music teaching to treat trauma.
Sternheim: Any unlicensed music coach can get it?
Sternheim: Nothing further.
Judge Nathan: Re-direct?
AUSA: Let's take the lunch break.
Judge Nathan: OK.
Live tweeting will continue, watch this feed...
by ti-amie Any live tweeting will be from @innercitypress. @KlasfeldReports is not live tweeting the afternoon session.
OK, the jury is finally back in, for re-direct of still pseudonymous witness Kate, staring with her award from the Epstein victims' fund.
(nothing given so far on this re-direct)
Next US witness: Patrick McHugh of JP Morgan Chase: "I'm an officer of the firm. I can speak to who is authorize to access accounts and the like."
Assistant US Attorney names a slew of financial exhibits and calls them public exhibits. We'll see when we get access to them. Watch this feed.
Pending getting all these exhibits, the current one shows a wire transfer involving Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for $7,400,000, JPM Chase and BONY Mellon.
Now JPM's McHugh is being asked about helicopter purchase. The exhibits as shown on the screens are blurry - will have to wait to get access to legible copies.
Maxwell's lawyer: This document doesn't show who approved it, right?
McHugh: Yes, the statement does not
Next witness is FBI's Ms. Kelly McGuire, Special Agent.
AUSA: What is this?
Agent McGuire: The front view of the resident [at 9 E. 71 Street]. When there was no response, we forced our way in.
by ti-amie From another live Tweeter
by ti-amie
JOSH RUSSELL
@jruss_jruss
Maxwell defense says that some of Government exhibits of photographs found at Epstein's townhouse are .PSD files (from Photoshop, according to metadata) and can't be trusted to not have been altered.
by
ti-amie Today 12/7 so far from @KlasfeldReports via @threadreaderapp
Good morning from New York.
Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer said prosecutors plan to call "Jane's" brother "Brian" to back up her testimony. Defense claims that "Jane" contacted him after leaving the stand.
Menninger said that "Jane" told "Brian" that Maxwell's lawyer was an "expletive that rhymes with 'front.'"
Maxwell's defense wants to exclude "Brian's" testimony.
Judge Nathan expressed concerns about whether any coaching took place and is considering the request to exclude it.
The prosecutor says that "Brian" informed the govt about the convo with "Jane," whom 'Brian' insists did not go into details of her testimony.
"Jane" told him "he should know that the defense attorney is an 'expletive,'" "Brian" told the govt.
Judge Nathan:
"The first task is for the govt to fully inquire about what 'Brian' learned from 'Jane' or anyone else" about the conservation.
To be clear:
At issue here is less the "expletive that rhymes with 'front'" than the conversation that took place. Ghislaine Maxwell's counsel is arguing that it could violate the court's sequestration order shielding witnesses from each other's testimony.
The FBI witness who ended yesterday's proceedings has returned to the stand.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Questioning of the FBI witness has resumed:
She identifies multiple photographs of Maxwell and Epstein.
These photos are being identified as being from a CD the FBI agent reviewed from the Maxwell investigation.
Testimony ended yesterday with CDs being found during the 2019 raid on Epstein's NY townhouse, including inside his safe.
Various photographs are shown to the jury of the two of them embracing and images of Maxwell appearing to massage Epstein's foot.
On cross examination, the FBI witness (Kimberly Meder) agrees that thousands of images were recovered — though she says she doesn't know when asked if tens of thousands were.
Q: In one set, there were more than 20,000. Is that right?
(Long pause as the witness reviews records, doesn't see the number, is prompted where to look and eventually replies yes.)
Asked whether she doesn't know whether the photos were altered, the witness replies: "Correct."
This witness's testimony concludes.
The next witness, from the FBI's Computer Analysis Response Team (CART), introduces an email from "GMax" complaining about unsatisfactory housekeeping from John, apparently a clear reference to the prior witness Juan Alessi.
Dated May 25, 2001, "GMax" grouses in the missive: "I need to what if any list John is using and he needs to understand he is doing a truly awful job."
Among her complaints, she says the "massage creams etc in JE's bathroom were a mess."
Intriguing new file created by "GMax" on Oct. 14, 2002, entered into evidence. It reads:
"Jeffrey and Ghislaine have been together, a couple, for the last 11 years. They are, contrary to what many people think, rarely apart — I almost always see them together."
"Ghislaine is highly intelligent and great company with a ready smile and an infectious laugh who always puts one at ones [sic] ease," the file created by "GMax" continues.
On cross-examination, the defense is establishing that the documents were written on a desktop and could not be geolocated.
Side note: The witness is treating the wrong letter of Ghislaine as silent.
He's pronouncing it "Gis-ayne."
It's "Ghee-lehn."
We're at mid-morning recess.
Trial continues and a witness testifying under the first name Carolyn takes the stand.
An attorney clarifies she's testifying under her first name only, rather than a pseudonym.
Carolyn describes a relationship with someone named "Sean," whom she says she told she was 17. She says he learned she was 14 at her birthday party.
Through Sean, Carolyn says, she met Virginia.
She says she was introduced to give Epstein a massage and make money.
Q: About how old were you the first time you went to Jeffrey Epstein's house?
A: 14.
Carolyn describes meeting Maxwell for the first time.
"She had an accent and she had shoulder-length black hair."
Carolyn says she called her by her surname: Maxwell.
"Because I didn't exactly pronounce her first name correctly."
Maxwell took off her clothes, and Carolyn left on her bra and underwear, she testifies.
Carolyn:
After 45 minutes of massaging his back, Epstein turned over, and Epstein and Virginia started having sex.
She says she and Virginia were both paid. Carolyn got $300.
Carolyn says she went to Epstein's house more than 100 times, two to three times a week, between the ages of 14 and 18.
Her voice sounds faint and emotional throughout her testimony.
Explaining why she went, Carolyn says it's because she was young and "$300 was a lot of money."
Carolyn said that she usually saw Maxwell when she entered the kitchen.
"She would just let me know that Mr. Epstein would be back, that he was on a jog."
Carolyn says that she told Maxwell that her mother was an alcoholic and that she was molested.
"I remember telling her that I had been raped and molested by grandfather starting at the age of four."
When invited to go to the island, Carolyn says, she told Maxwell she was "too young" and "there was no way in hell" she'd be allowed to go there.
Q: Did she touch you?
A: Yes.
Q: Where?
A: On my breasts.
Carolyn says she brought three friends to Epstein's house.
Asked what she was doing with the money she made at Jeffrey Epstein's house, Carolyn breaks down into tears when saying: "Buying drugs."
Carolyn says she had a son (whose father's first name she says in court) on March 12, 2004.
She says she returned to Epstein's house after that because she needed the money.
She stopped going because she realized she became "too old."
Q: How old were you?
A: 18.
She says she was arrested for her drug use.
"I handed the officer the drugs."
Q: Why did you do that?
A: Because I was an idiot. (she laughs)
She agrees she was later arrested for possessing stolen property.
Carolyn says she went to therapy following those incidents.
She says she later worked for an escort service and became a stripper. She sometimes had sex with men for money, she said.
(This is still the government's direct examination, apparently anticipating what Maxwell's attorneys will ask.)
Cross examination is beginning.
The initial questions look into Carolyn's prior statements about Virginia Roberts.
Flashback from Maxwell's defense opening:
"Carolyn was introduced to Epstein not by Ghislaine, by a woman named Virginia Roberts."
Lunch break.
Cross-examination will resume after the recess.
Spelling correction:
The figure identified as "Sean" earlier in the thread should be "Shawn."
Cross-examination by Maxwell's lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca resumes:
He questions Carolyn about FBI notes of her interview in August 2017.
Pagliuca says the FBI notes say that Carolyn described the woman as having an "unknown" accent.
The witness denies that, saying she told the FBI that the woman had an "accent."
As Pagliuca questions Carolyn about comparisons between her testimony today and what she told the government in earlier meeting, it'd be helpful to review this legal explainer from the time of "Jane's" testimony.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1466 ... 76866.html
by
ti-amie Matthew Russell Lee for/as
http://InnerCityPress.com
OK - now in US v. #GhislaineMaxwell, her lawyer Pagliuca is cross-examining survivor Carolyn who testified Maxwell paid her $300 to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein. Inner City Press will live tweet, thread below....
Pagliuca: Look at the notes the FBI took during your interview, about a lady with short black hair and an "unknown" accent. They didn't cut you off, correct?
Carolyn: That was a bad day for me. I was not expecting the FBI to come to my home.
Pagliuca: You knew what a British accent was, but you said "an unknown accent," right?
Carolyn: The day that you're talking about --
Pagliuca: I'd ask the Court to make her answer.
Pagliuca: So for the 2d visit to Mr. Epstein's house, you sat in the kitchen and spoke with the chef, right?
Carolyn: I don't remember if it was the 2d visit or after.
Pagliuca: Show the witness what she said in 2007.
Carolyn: The FBI didn't ask me about Maxwell.
Pagliuca: Are you saying the FBI limited what you could say?
Carolyn: They didn't ask me about Maxwell.
Pagliuca: But you told the FBI about Sarah and the Incubus tickets from Epstein.
Carolyn: Yes.
Pagliuca: And you moved from Florida to Georgia.
Carolyn: Yes.
Pagliuca: I want to talk about the lawsuits you filed --
Carolyn: What does that have to do with me moving to Georgia?
After Pagliuca asks Carolyn again and again about FBI 302s and lawsuit paragraphs, Judge Nathan declared the afternoon break, having said she'll be addressing objection now out of the presence of the jury.
Judge Nathan: Let's pick up the first factual paragraph
Pagliuca: We argue the entire complaint is inconsistent, by omission. She mentions Sarah Kellen and not Ms. Maxwell.
AUSA Maurene Comey: This was a lawsuit against 2 defendants - there was no reason that 3d parties would be in.
Judge Nathan: I'm letting it in.
by ti-amie Slightly different reportage by Klasfeld here:
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
Jury is sent out of the courtroom for recess.
Pagliuca tells the judge he's trying to impeach the witness "by omission," pointing to paragraphs of Carolyn's civil complaint about Sarah Kellen.
He says the govt's trying to play down Kellen's alleged role and play up Maxwell's.
The civil complaint does the opposite, Pagliuca says.
by ti-amie Recess is over.
Klasfeld via @threadreaderapp
Cross-examination continues after the conclusion of afternoon recess.
Pagliuca turns to Carolyn's history of alcohol and drug use, a subject anticipated by the prosecution's direct examination.
Q: Did you ever have sexual intercourse with Mr. Epstein?
A: No.
She interjects about the exchange:
"I replied 'No' because I was not a willing participant. He had sex with me and I stopped it."
Pagliuca asks Carolyn whether it's true she never mentioned Maxwell in therapy.
Correct, she replies.
by ti-amie A bit of a follow up before the above via @innercitypress and @threadreaderapp
Just before the jury comes back in, AUSA Comey asks how long the cross examination is going to be, it's already been longer than the direct. No answer.
All rise!
Pagliuca: Do you recall abusing drugs from the age of 13?
Carolyn: If you call pot drugs, yes.
Pagliuca: So you went to Georgia to detox, right?
Carolyn: No. I went to Georgia to escape traumatic events in my life.
Paugliaca: Let's talk about your claims of sex with Epstein. Isn't it true you used cocaine while you were at Mr. Epstein's house?
Carolyn: No.
Carolyn: What does any of this have to do with what I'm here for today? Ghislaine Maxwell fondled me and broke my soul --
Pagliuca: Move to strike.
Judge Nathan: Carolyn, you have to follow my rules. Jury will disregard.
Pagliuca: You received these funds from the Epstein Compensation Fund --
Carolyn: No amount of money will ever heal --
Pagliuca: Move to strike.
Judge Nathan: Jury will disregard. I instruct the witness to comply with the rules.
Pagliuca: You claimed you saw a photograph of Ms. Maxwell pregnant, correct?
Carolyn: Nude and pregnant. That was on multiple --
Pagliuca: No further questions.
AUSA Maurene Comey: Three minutes. Did you write your legal complaint?
Carolyn: No (crying)
by ti-amie More from @innercitypress via @threadreaderapp
Judge Nathan: Jurors, we're two minutes over. See you tomorrow.
Clerk: All rise!
Now government says: We will be resting this week (!)
They'd said five to six week trial - this is a big change. Now Judge Nathan floats a charging conference on Saturday the 18th.
Judge Nathan: I have inquired and we could get Ms Maxwell here on a Saturday, and open the overflow courtroom.
Again: Why no listen-only call-in line, as existed even today in US v. Steve Bannon in DDC?
Judge Nathan: Jurors, we're two minutes over. See you tomorrow.
Clerk: All rise!
Again: Why no listen-only call-in line, as existed even today in US v. Steve Bannon in DDC?
Judge Nathan: I remind you, one word objections only. Adjourned.
by ti-amie From @KlasfeldReports via @threareaderapp for 12/8/2021
Good morning from New York.
A rush of new photographs of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were just made public. They were introduced into evidence yesterday during testimony of images recovered from the 2019 raid on Epstein's NY home.
Live feed ahead, @lawcrimenews.
Judge Nathan is about to rule on her limiting instruction as to Ghislaine Maxwell's last accuser, who says that Epstein made sexual contact with her in New Mexico.
The judge will tell jurors that was “not ‘illegal sexual activity’ as the government charged in the indictment.”
This is a less sweeping instruction than provided for the accuser known as "Kate," whom the judge told the jury was not a victim of the crimes charged.
Unlike "Kate," the judge says: "This is an alleged victim of the crimes charged in the indictment."
"Kate" was 17 at the the time, above the age of consent in the relevant jurisdictions.
This witness, Annie, was 16 at the time—the age of consent in New Mexico, but prosecutors say she was groomed in other jurisdictions.
The government wants to call a witness to authenticate records at Mar-a-Lago related to Virginia Roberts (now known as Virginia Giuffre).
Maxwell's defense is trying to keep it out.
Judge Nathan just said that they are waiting for a juror who encountered substantial train delay issues today.
(Anecdotal corroboration: NYC subways were something of a mess last night and this morning.)
The jury is in and trial has begun for the day.
First witness: a human resources staffer at Mar-a-Lago, who has worked there for almost 15 years.
The prosecutor is asking about personnel action notices, before turning the witness's attention to a binder of that evidence.
The jury is viewing the Personnel Action Notice for Sky Roberts.
Dated April 11, 2000, the notice turns the attention to the field "father of child."
(Not displayed but previously known: He's the father of Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre.)
The next witness is testifying under the name Shawn.
Shawn testifies that she was 14 when he first started dating Carolyn.
He was 17.
"She only had two jobs ever. She worked at Arby's, and she worked for Jeffrey [Epstein]," he says.
He corroborates Carolyn's account of an introduction through Virginia Roberts.
Shawn says he was present when Roberts told Carolyn she could make money by giving Epstein massages.
Asked Carolyn's response, Shawn says: "She was excited to make money."
Q: What's the difference between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach?
A: Money is no object out there.
(Objection)
(Sustained)
Q: Did you ever go inside Jeffrey Epstein's home?
A: No, ma'am.
But he says he saw it from the outside.
Shawn recalls Carolyn mentioning the woman's name "Maxwell."
Just like Carolyn said yesterday, he says she couldn't pronounce her first name.
Q: How did you know Amanda and Melissa? (Note: He doesn't spell the names, which may vary.)
Shawn says he was dating them at the same time he was dating Carolyn.
Shawn testifies that he saw Carolyn and Melissa enter Epstein's house and return with money in $100 bills.
Shawn acknowledges that he was using drugs at the time and was arrested for methamphetamine and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon.
Perhaps anticipating cross-examination, prosecutor elicits that testimony at the end of her questioning.
I'll revisit cross-examination later. I had to turn my attention.
Next witness: Nicole Hesse, a teacher who works with young children.
She says she worked at Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach house. She refers to it as the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell home.
Maxwell and Epstein weren't home when she was there, Hesse says.
She appears to be called to authenticate messages on message pads.
Q: Is your signature on all three of those books?
A: Yes, it is?
She said that she would jot down the time when people called and leaving messages.
Prosecutor moves to enter exhibits into evidence, including sealed exhibits.
Maxwell's lawyer objects on hearsay grounds for certain exhibits.
15 minute recess to sort this out.
We're back, and the government is introducing exhibits about three of the messages Hesse is being asked to authenticate.
Q: What's the date of that message?
A: 8/12/04
It's a message from Carolyn, the witness says.
(The same first name as one of Maxwell's accusers.)
Maxwell's lawyer is now cross examining the witness.
Asked about her knowledge about women visiting Epstein home, she answers: "Yes, that there were women who came for massages."
She adds that she was "not there to see it."
Hesse is asked about messages for Mr. "JE."
Other messages state "Jeffrey," "Sarah," and Mr. "JE," the witness confirms.
If you're looking for analysis of the first week of Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking trial by an ex-federal prosecutor, @MitchellEpner shares his thoughts on my @LawCrimeNetwork podcast "Objections."
Next witness: David Rodgers, the "chief pilot" for Jeffrey Epstein for more than a decade.
Hired July 1991.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, the daughter of ex-FBI director James Comey.
Rodgers hired Larry Visoski, whose testimony you can catch up on here.
Just like Visoski testified, Rodgers says of Maxwell: "She would be No. 2" — just under Epstein.
Asked about the nature of Epstein and Maxwell's relationship:
"Early on, they were romantically involved," Rodgers testifies, adding that later, they weren't.
Rodgers' testimony turns to the passenger manifest.
He says he also kept a personal logbook.
Q: What's a log book?
A: "It just shows you the day you flew, the destination you went to," the time, etc.
The government enters a sealed and a public version of an exhibit, with the sealing to protect witnesses.
Rodgers describes flights to Teterboro, N.J., which he presumed to be a stop for Epstein to go to his Manhattan townhouse.
The witness said that Epstein, Maxwell and two other passengers—whose names aren't disclosed publicly—were on this flight.
Rodgers is testifying about flights to Traverse City, Mich., the closest airport to the Interlochen academy.
That's where "Jane" says she met Maxwell and Epstein. The witness recalls traveling there between 1991 to 1998.
Lunch recess.
Service advisory:
Because I'll be physically in the courtroom this afternoon, I will not be live-tweeting those proceedings, but I'll continue to report on them.
So will dozens of hard-working reporters from around the world.
There are other areas of the courthouse where proceedings have been streamed and credentialed reporters can live-tweet.
The judge has made a point to note that there are regularly seats available inside the court's overflow rooms to observe the public trial.
by ti-amie The tweets by @innercitypress are not being aggregated for whatever reason. This will be tedious.
P1.
by
ti-amie This is the piece Adam Klasfeld referred to.
‘Facts Are Not Persuasive; Stories Are’: Ex-Sex Trafficking Prosecutor Unpacks the Early Stages of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Trial
ADAM KLASFELDDec 8th, 2021, 12:16 pm
In 2000, former President Bill Clinton signed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, a landmark piece of legislation later reauthorized by his successors that protect survivors with tools like “T” visas and stiff penalties for alleged perpetrators.
“Prior to that, victims were loathe to cooperate, because they would often be shipped back to towns where the traffickers held power and could exact awful reprisals,” attorney Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor who led intake on sex-trafficking cases in the District of New Jersey in 2003 and 2004, told Law&Crime. “Traffickers would often threaten girls and women that, if they cooperated with police/prosecutors, they would be killed in hideous fashion after being deported.”
Now of counsel with the firm Rottenberg Lipman Rich PC, Epner drew from his experiences navigating that then-nascent prosecutorial tool to offer insights into the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. She stands accused of sexually trafficking minors for Jeffrey Epstein and enticed them to travel to perform illegal sex acts.
If convicted of all charges, Maxwell, 59, can be imprisoned effectively for the rest of her life.
Offering analysis at length in a Zoom interview, Epner told Law&Crime’s podcast “Objections: with Adam Klasfeld” that the outcome of Maxwell’s trial will depend less on the panel’s studious parsing of the various exhibits that come into evidence.
Instead, Maxwell’s fate will hinge upon something more fundamental: whose account the jury believes.
“Anybody who claims to understand how juries work […] is either much smarter than me or lying to themselves or lying to you,” Epner noted. “But what I do know is that stories matter much more than facts.”
Quoting the famed trial lawyer Gerry Spence, Epner said: “Facts are not persuasive; stories are.”
“So I don’t think that the jurors are likely to be motivated by any particular fact,” Epner said. “They will be motivated by the story that they believe, and then they will grab on to the facts that they believe support the story that they’ve already been convinced of. And there’s a lot of good science that shows that is the way human beings make decisions in jury rooms.”
Spence, who originally expressed that view of juries, says that he never lost a jury trial since 1969—nor any criminal case.
Maxwell’s first alleged victim to take the stand against her in the first week of trial was “Jane,” who accused Maxwell of touching her breast when she was 14. She also alleged that Maxwell groomed her for horrific sexual abuse by Epstein, including the “painful” use of a back massager as a vibrator.
“The old adage that first impressions are lasting impressions is absolutely proven science in trials,” Epner said. “If the jurors initially believed that they had a truth teller in front of them when Jane was testifying, it takes a lot on cross examination to make jury say, ‘Oh, I’ve been hoodwinked. This person isn’t telling the truth. This person is lying.'”
Maxwell’s defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim told jurors during her opening statement that the trial was about “memory, manipulation and money,” and the accused sex trafficker’s legal team has attacked Maxwell’s accusers on all three fronts.
Co-counsel Laura Menninger sharply questioned “Jane,” an accomplished soap opera actress testifying under a pseudonym, about her career and alleged discrepancies in her early interviews with government authorities.
“The defense here is not, at least with regard to Jane, that she’s mistaken,” Epner noted. “It that she’s giving the wrong understanding to innocent behavior by Maxwell.”
Notes from interviews indicate that “Jane” told law enforcement that Maxwell took her to see “The Lion King” on Broadway in New York City and celebrated the late journalist Mike Wallace’s 80th birthday, claims that Menninger suggested do not align with the timeline.
Another note from law enforcement seemed to state that “Jane” previously said that she could not recall if Maxwell kissed her.
Though Epner found that the “most effective” part of “Jane’s” cross-examination, he believed prosecutors effectively countered that later by asking the witness why she may have been reluctant to share all of the details in early interviews.
Her voice cracking, “Jane” answered: “Because I was sitting in a room full of strangers and telling them the most shameful, deepest secrets that I’d been carrying around with me my whole life.”
On the second week of trial, Maxwell’s other accusers have stepped forward. One, “Kate,” testified that she was 17 years old when Maxwell groomed her for sexual contact with Epstein. Since that was over the age of consent in the relevant jurisdictions, “Kate” was found by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan not to have been a victim of the crimes charged in the indictment. Two other women, Carolyn and Annie Farmer, are listed as Maxwell’s alleged victims.
The latter is expected to testify on Wednesday, and the government may rest its case as early as Thursday.
https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/ghi ... lls-trial/
by ti-amie P3 @innercitypress
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
1m
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: Now Mr. Visoski --
Judge Nathan: It's Mr. Rogers.
Everdell: [Uncomfortable laugh]
by mmmm8 Ti - thank you for posting this. I've never really had the time or attention span to follow a trial so closely, this has been very interesting. (and sad)
by
ti-amie mmmm8 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:51 pm
Ti - thank you for posting this. I've never really had the time or attention span to follow a trial so closely, this has been very interesting. (and sad)
Thanks.
by
the Moz The pic of Epstein & Maxwell at Balmoral is a keeper...not
by
ti-amie From @KlasfeldReports
Good morning from New York.
As the government's case draws toward its conclusion, we are expected to hear from the last accusing witness against Ghislaine Maxwell—and the only one to testify under her real, full name: Annie Farmer.
Follow my coverage live, @lawcrimenews.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
First witness of the day: Tracy Chapell, a senior paralegal at FedEx.
The witness is shown an invoice, a redacted form of which will be made public.
(The purpose of this witness is to authenticate invoices associated with the account of Jeffrey Epstein, all from the last few months of 2002.)
The witness is now being cross examined, and Maxwell's lawyer highlights one listing the name "S. Kellen," part of a clear defense strategy to distance their client and draw Kellen closer.
Note:
Often, these establishing pieces of evidence pass by with little notice—before the prosecutors and defense attorneys put the pieces together in summations.
Prosecutors want the parties to confer with the judge in the robing room.
Instead, Judge Nathan sends the jury out for a brief break.
Now, both are happening.
The jury has been sent out, and the parties confer with the judge in the robing room.
Side note:
The Ghislaine Maxwell trial has been getting wall-to-wall coverage from news organizations globally, and no one who actually has been here covering the case on the ground can honestly claim otherwise.
"All rise."
The jury is entering.
Judge Nathan tells the jury: "I've been informed that there's an attorney in the case who is ill."
She said they have no reason to believe it's COVID related.
But they're breaking for the day.
by
ti-amie the Moz wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 2:54 pm
The pic of Epstein & Maxwell at Balmoral is a keeper...not
I refuse to post pics of them.
by
ti-amie From @KlasfeldReports via @threadreaderapp
Good morning from New York.
After a false start yesterday, we are expected against to her from the only accusing witness against Ghislaine Maxwell testifying under her real name: Annie Farmer.
Pre-trial discussions today have not yet addressed the attorney's illness yesterday.
I am working on a story on popular conceptions about the Maxwell trial that experts tell me are rooted in lack of familiarity about the criminal process—and what these proceedings are and are not meant to accomplish.
Look out for that story, @lawcrimenews.
"All rise."
How Judge Nathan reports the update to the jury on yesterday's attorney illness.
"I'm very pleased to report that all of the attorneys are here. Everyone is doing well."
The prosecution reads a stipulation into the record attesting to the authenticity of certain exhibits.
First witness of the day: William Brown, who works at the DMV's division of field investigations.
Next witness:
AUSA: "The government calls Annie Farmer."
Judge Nathan: "Annie Farmer may come forward."
The witness states and spells her name.
The judge gives a limiting instruction to the jury, saying that her allegations about "physical contact" between Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in New Mexico were not illegal.
She was 16 at the time there.
Prosecutor: “Can you see anyone in this courtroom who has ever given you a massage?”
Farmer identifies Maxwell in the courtroom.
Asked about her career, Farmer replies.
Describing her family's financial situation growing up, she says: "Money was tight. It had often been a stressor since my parents were divorced."
She describes her siblings, including Maria Farmer.
Their profile in the New York Times: "The Sisters Who First Tried to Take Down Jeffrey Epstein."
The Sisters Who First Tried to Take Down Jeffrey Epstein (Published 2019)
Nine years before any police investigation, Maria and Annie Farmer reported the troubling behavior of Jeffrey Epstein and his companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. No one would act.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/e ... xwell.html
Annie Farmer says Jeffrey Epstein purchased a ticket for her to go to New York.
She says that she was excited to see her sister, and as she moves onto Epstein, defense makes a hearsay objection.
Sustained.
Annie Farmer says she met Epstein in New York but not Maxwell.
(Note: Corrected a typo.)
The government introduces a photograph of herself from around the time she met Jeffrey Epstein.
She says she was 16 years old in the photograph.
Q: Where did you meet Epstein?
A: At his home.
"It was a very grand home. I was staying with my sister in her apartment."
Flashback to Ghislaine Maxwell's bail hearing in July 2020:
https://twitter.com/NinaPullano?ref_src ... 75302.html
Asked how she felt meeting Epstein, Annie Farmer replied: “I was excited. He was again very friendly with me. He seemed down to earth[…] He seemed very nice when I met him.”
She says she was excited that Epstein said he could help her.
She says Epstein took her to "Phantom of the Opera" and then a movie, where she sat next to Epstein.
He first "caressed" her hand and then her leg.
Annie Farmer: “I felt sick to my stomach. It wasn’t something that I was at all expecting.”
Annie Farmer reads from her diary: "The best night was when Maria and I saw 'The Phantom of the Night.'"
Her review at the timing: "I bawled. It was fantastic."
She reads from another entry from the journal on Jan. 25, 1996.
"A couple of quick details about New York that I didn't mention earlier."
The journal entry goes into what happened at the movie theater.
"It was a little weird. One of those things that was hard to explain."
At one point, she wrote: "Then he sort of caressed, rubbed my arm, shoe and foot."
The journal entry stated that it "weirded me out" that Epstein let go of her hand when he spoke to her sister, Maria.
But she she wrote about not wanting to bring it up: "She worships him [Epstein] and it would just create problems."
She wrote that she knew it sounded like she was "trying to justify him doing something weird, but it isn't."
Reflecting on what she wrote now, Annie Farmer said: "I was trying to come up with excuses or justification to make it try to feel okay."
Annie Farmer's testimony turns to New Mexico.
Asked how she got to New Mexico, Annie Farmer says: "I flew commercially."
She says it was in the spring of 1996.
"I believe it was April," she said.
Annie Farmer describes her first meeting with Maxwell:
"She was a trim, attractive woman. Well dressed." Dark hair.
Q: What did Ms. Maxwell sound like?
A: She had a British accent.
She was also "well spoken" and "articulate," Farmer said.
Annie Farmer said the presence of Maxwell made her feel comfortable, given what happened in the movie theater.
Annie Farmer's impression of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein:
"I thought that they were romantic partners."
She says that they appeared "intimate" with each other.
She describes being bought cowboy boots on the ranch.
Q: Who bought the boots for you?
She answers Epstein.
Q: Who was present with you when the boots were being purchased?
She answers Maxwell.
Annie Farmer says that she went to the movies with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
She says she didn't want to go because of her last experience at the movies but she says she thought it would be different this time because Maxwell was there.
They saw the movie "Primal Fear," she says.
"He right away tried to hold my hand and caress and hold my foot and my arm," Annie Farmer says, referring to Epstein.
Annie Farmer says Ghislaine Maxwell "sat and held one of [Epstein's] feet" and instructed her to massage the other.
"I just watched what she was doing and she instructed me."
"And so I did what she told me."
"I felt very uncomfortable," Annie Farmer says of the massage. "I wanted to stop, and I was hoping it’d be over quickly."
Q: Did Maxwell give you a massage?
A: Yes, she did.
Annie Farmer says she set up a table in the room where she was staying.
Q: What were you wearing during the massage?
A: Nothing.
Asked why, she responds: "She told me to get undressed."
Asked to clarify who, Farmer says Maxwell.
Q: What happened once you were laying on your back?
Annie Farmer says Maxwell "pulled the sheet down," "exposed her breasts," and touched her breasts.
Annie Farmer recalled having a "sense" that Epstein might be able to see her during the massage.
She recalled Epstein coming into the room and saying that he wanted to cuddle.
Q: Did you want to cuddle with Epstein?
A: No.
Annie Farmer describes moving home to Phoenix.
Asked if she wrote in her journal about her trip to New Mexico, Annie Farmer says no.
She says she didn't want to think about it.
Asked why she kept the boots, Annie Farmer says at first she shoved them in the back of her closet.
Agents then asked if she had them, she says.
Then, she says she found them and she wore the boots.
Asked what she told her mother after the trip, Annie Farmer said: "I told my mom I was not raped and I didn't want to talk about it."
Late summer of 1996.
Q: Did you tell the FBI that Maxwell had given you a massage?
A: Yes.
Asked why Annie Farmer said she wanted to "reclaim" the boots by wearing them again, she says: "It was a dark memory and I had felt so taken advantage of by them both."
Annie Farmer said she struggled to step forward because it was a "shameful" memory but she found that she wanted "accountability" and "these people being stopped."
Asked if she has any financial stake in the outcome of this trial, the witness replies: "I do not."
Cross examination will begin.
We just finished a morning recess. Here's a quick write-up of what happened during the early morning sessions. This is a DEVELOPING story, @lawcrimenews
Annie Farmer, the Only Ghislaine Maxwell Accusing Witness to Go Public, Testifies Against Her in Sex Trafficking Trial
Ghislaine Maxwell's only alleged victim to self-identify in court told a jury on Thursday that Jeffrey Epstein abused her when she was 16 years old—with Maxwell's help luring her to his ranch.
https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/ghi ... hislaine-m
Maxwell's attorney Laura Menninger establishes that there was no sexual activity in Epstein's New York home alleged.
Q: No one showed you any vibrators, massagers or anything like that in that home?
A: No.
Also, Maxwell wasn't present.
(Note: The allegations are about the New York movie theater and the New Mexico ranch and movie theater.)
Menninger questions Annie Farmer about her journal entries:
Q: You called the "Phantom of the Opera" the best night of your trip?
A: Yes.
Menninger asks whether the journal entries helped her remember details and emotions that she may have otherwise forgotten.
Annie Farmer generally agrees.
Menninger points out that Farmer's journal entry described Epstein's actions in the New York movie theater as "weird" and also "not weird."
Asked how she feels about it now, she says: "I still find it weird."
Q: Your memories today are colored by hindsight, right?
A: Of course.
Q: Without a journal entry from the New Mexico trip, we can't confirm who invited you there with a piece of paper?
A: With a piece of paper, no.
Menninger says that without a journal there's no piece of paper confirming what happened in New Mexico and how she felt about it.
Farmer agrees, as qualifying it with a "piece of paper" confirmation.
Menninger says that Farmer recalled the date of the trip by researching when the film "Primal Fear" came out and working backwards.
Farmer: "I don't think I would say it that way."
Lunch recess.
Service advisory: I will be in court for the afternoon session and so will not be tweeting then.
But I will continue to cover the case, as will dozens of reporters from around the world.
Back soon.
by
ti-amie From Matthew Russell Lee for/as
http://InnerCityPress.com
OK - it's US v. #GhislaineMaxwell Day 10, jury finally seated, jurors being directed to binder of sealed non-public exhibits. Inner City Press is reporting
Assistant US Attorney Rohrbach: The government calls William Brown of the NYS Dept of Motor Vehicles.
AUSA: Are you aware how people receive ID cards?
Brown: Yes.
AUSA: Please pick up the folder next to you, [sealed] government exhibit.
Judge Nathan: I will admit these exhibits under seal.
AUSA: Look at Defense Exhibit LD3A, it's in the front of the binder. How old in 1996 was this person, born in 1985?
Brown: 11 years old.
No cross.. Next witness.
AUSA: The government calls Annie Farmer.
Clerk: Spell your name.
A: ANNIE FARMER.
Judge Nathan: I instruct you that the physical conduct you will hear about in New Mexico was not "illegal sexual activity." But it may be relevant, but not of propensity.
AUSA Pomerantz: Please take out sealed exhibit 13.
AUSA: In what state were your born?
Annie Farmer: Missouri.
AUSA: Where did you get your PhD?
Annie Farmer: University of Texas at Austin.
AUSA: How old were you when Maxwell gave you a massage?
Annie Farmer: I was 16.
AUSA: What were your family's finances?
Annie Farmer: My parents were divorced. I was worried how college would be paid for.
AUSA: Do you have an older sister?
Annie Farmer: Maria. She's 9 years older. She was living in NYC. She was working with Jeffrey Epstein.
AUSA: How did you travel to NYC?
Annie Farmer: Jeffrey Epstein paid. I was excited to see my father. Jeffrey Epstein had said -
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection! Hearsay!
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
AUSA: What did your sister say to you about the trip to NY?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection - hearsay.
AUSA: Effect on the listener.
Judge Nathan: Is this was we discussed? I'll let it in, within a scope. And I'll tell the juror this is not offered for the truth.
AUSA: Who did you thank for your ticket?
Annie Farmer: Epstein --
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection! Hearsay!
AUSA: I'll move on. Did you meet Jeffrey Epstein?
Annie Farmer: Yes. Twice during this trip.
AUSA: Show the witness, the parties and the court Gov Exhibit 101.
AUSA: What is this?
Annie Farmer: My high school yearbook photo.
[Photo shown on screen - should be made available later - later today if Judge Rakoff's precedent is followed: documentcloud.org/documents/2051…
Annie Farmer: Epstein's home was very grand.
AUSA: What did Epstein ask you about?
Annie Farmer: My plans. He suggested UCLA and said he had connections.
[Early #VarsityBlues?]
Annie Farmer: He suggested I go on an international trip to boost my application.
Annie Farmer: We went to see the movie "Five Monkeys." [12?]
AUSA: Where did Epstein sit?
Annie Farmer: Between us. Then he rubbed my leg.
AUSA: What was your reaction?
Annie Farmer: I was very surprised. I felt sick to my stomach.
Annie Farmer: When Maria would look over, he would stop. The begin again.
AUSA: Did you tell your sister?
Annie Farmer: No. I was confused. I knew she was protective, I knew she would be upset, she might lose her job. So I decided not to say anything.
AUSA: Did you write in your journal?
Annie Farmer: I did.
AUSA: Please describe your journaling.
Annie Farmer: I was not a consistent journaler but I would sometimes write down what was happening in my life.
[Journal entry shown on screen. Annie Farmer reads from it incl about going to see Phantom of the Opera, champagne with Epstein. Then, a later entry, We went to the movies with Jeffrey Epstein. I was weirded out, he let go of my hand when he was talking to Maria
AUSA: How did you feel about Epstein as you wrote this?
Annie Farmer: I was conflicted. I knew it was not normal or right. But I was trying to make it seem OK.
Annie Farmer journal continued: I am thinking of doing something in Africa. It was be incredible.
AUSA: Where did you next see Jeffrey Epstein?
Annie Farmer: New Mexico.
AUSA: Who did you think you'd be seeing there?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection - [lack of] foundation.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
AUSA: When you landed in New Mexico what happened next?
Annie Farmer. There was a man with a sign with my name on it. He drove us to the ranch. There, I met Ghislaine Maxwell. She was slim and attractive, in her 30s. She was an adult.
AUSA: What did she sound like?
Annie Farmer: She had a British accent... I had been told that Maxwell would be there in New Mexico and it made me more comfortable, after what happened in New York.
AUSA: Who told you Maxwell would be there?
Annie Farmer: My mother.
AUSA: What did you and Maxwell talk about?
Annie Farmer: My life, my school, British authors.
AUSA: Did you leave the ranch?
Annie Farmer: Yes, a nature food store. Maxwell bought me henna. A western wear store, cowboy boots purchased for me.
AUSA: What did you think of the boots?
Annie Farmer: They cost over $100 dollars. I was grateful, gracious. We went to the movies. I didn't want to go because of what happened in NY. But I thought it would be different with Maxwell there.
AUSA: For how much of the movie did he touch you?
Annie Farmer: Most of it. He didn't hide it. And afterward back at the ranch, Maxwell told me to rub his feet, that she'd show me how... Later Maxwell told me to get undressed and started rubbing my breasts.
Annie Farmer: I wanted to get off the table, I wanted out of there. The door was open and I had the sense Epstein could see. In the morning Epstein came into my room and said he wanted to cuddle. He climbed to bed with me. I didn't like it.
AUSA: Did you tell him?
Annie Farmer: No. There was no one else around.
AUSA: What happened?
Annie Farmer: I went into the bathroom and shut the door. I waited.
AUSA: Where did you go in 1996?
Annie Farmer: Thailand and Vietnam, cultural immersion.
[Photo shown on screen of Annie Farmer and another with a small elephant with a wooden seat on it]
AUSA: Who paid for the trip?
Annie Farmer: Epstein.
AUSA: Any more contact with Maxwell and Epstein?
Annie Farmer: No.
AUSA: Who did you first tell?
Annie Farmer: My mother, generally.
AUSA: What did you tell your mom?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection!
Sidebar...
[The lawyers go up to whisper with Judge Nathan. Maxwell remains alone at the defense table, today in an orange or pink sweater, rubbing her arms.]
[They've back from the sidebar.]
AUSA: Did you tell anyone else?
Annie Farmer; I had a boyfriend and I told him.
AUSA: Did you speak to the media?
Annie Farmer: Many times. First in 2002.
AUSA: Law enforcement?
Annie Farmer: 2006-07. To the FBI.
AUSA: Have you spoken with the media since?
Annie Farmer: Yes. Off the record in 2016 and on the record in 2019.
AUSA: Were you paid for the interviews?
Annie Farmer: No.
AUSA: Were you interviewed by law enforcement in NY?
Annie Farmer: Yes. In 2019. In the fall I sued Epstein and Maxwell.
AUSA: Did you participate in the Epstein victims compensation fund?
Annie Farmer: Yes. I was awarded $1.5 million. My lawyers were pro bono.
AUSA: Any financial stake in the outcome of this trial?
Annie Farmer: No.
AUSA: No further questions.
Judge Nathan: Cross examination.
Maxwell's lawyer Laura Menninger: Good morning. Your sister is the one who arranged your travel to NY?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: You told the FBI that flying alone was not abnormal for you, correct?
Annie Farmer: I usually had my younger sister with me, when I flew to visit my father.
Menninger: Here's the report.
Annie Farmer: I see it.
Menninger: Ghislaine Maxwell had no role in your travel to NY, right?
Annie Farmer: She did not.
Menninger: You believed that Mr. Epstein purchased your plane ticket?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: You also saw the Blue Man Group and went to a flea markets with your sister, correct?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: In NY, Ms Maxwell didn't take you to the Lion King, correct?
Annie Farmer: She did not.
And now the jury takes its mid-morning break.
Soon podcast and stories on InnerCityPress.com and
Matthew Russell Lee: Inner City Press is creating News and views, from SDNY, NYC, IMF & UN censorship, Video Too | Patreon
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Here is the podcast: anchor.fm/innercity-pres…
Now Maxwell's lawyer Menninger continues digging into NY trip, the lack of Maxwell, other pages of Annie' journal. Expect Loftus on memory lost in defense's case
Dec 10-1: #GhislaineMaxwell fondled Annie Farmer in New Mexico, jury hears, cross-exam & UN cover up by Inner City Press SDNY & UN Podcast
Dec 10-1: #GhislaineMaxwell fondled Annie Farmer in New Mexico, jury hears, cross-examination & UN cover up by @AntonioGuterres, who's represented on GMax' Terramar board
Menninger: You wrote about a cross country skiing trip and going to see bands and a bar...Significantly, you really talked about your emotions after returning from NY, what a great time you had there.
Menninger: So in your journal, you said what Epstein did in the movie theater was not weird, correct?
Annie Farmer: I was struggling.
Menninger: So you are only calling it weird in hindsight0 You are viewing what happened in NY in light of what happened in NM?
Menninger: Let's go to Exhibit 604, the last journal entry you gave to the government for this case?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: And you never gave the government the full journal, right?
Annie Farmer: Right.
Menninger: You researched when Primal Fear came out then fit your memory to it?
Annie Farmer: I wouldn't say it that way.
Menninger: You communicated with a journalist and told him you'd research the release date of Primal Fear, right?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Judge Nathan: We're going to break for lunch.
Jurors leave.
Judge Nathan: Any issues?
No.
Lunch break - thread will continue, watch this feed - including, hopefully, for a Foley Square live stream. Here's Bonus, incl on Kevin Spacey patreon.com/posts/59749076
Here is the lunch-break live-stream. As we return to the courtroom, Maxwell is chatting with her lawyer, smiling, then sitting with her chin in her hands. Still no Judge Nathan. Docketing the Press letter and releasing logs and lists?
Cross continues.
Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: On direct you didn't mention it, but there was a cook on the ranch as well, right?
Annie Farmer: I have no memory of that.
Menninger: And you didn't see the big glorious Zorro ranch at that time, right?
Annie Farmer: No.
Menninger: You mentioned the boots. But on the trip you spent a significant amount of time horseback riding.
Annie Farmer: Is that a question?
Menninger: You told the FBI that in 2006, right?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: Are these the boots?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: I move for admission of the boots.
Menninger: So you decided to wear the boots, even when you knew they were evidence. You wore them frequently?
Annie Farmer: I didn't wear them to work. I wore them when I was two-stepping.
Menninger: So you wore the boots Jeffrey Epstein gave you when you danced
Menninger: So in the movie theater there was no touching of your genitalia or private parts, was there?
Annie Farmer: No.
Menninger: And you said you were naked for the full body massage. But you only told the journalist you had no bra on-
AUSA: Objection!
Menninger: You said in 2019 you were unsure if you had your underwear on.
Judge Nathan: Objection overruled. I'll allow the question.
Menninger: You do not recall Jeffrey Epstein pushing an erect penis into your back, do you?
Annie Farmer: I do not recall that.
Menninger: Look at this.
Menninger: You told your mother that you were not raped or sexually abused, right?
Annie Farmer: I said I was not raped.
• • •
by ti-amie @innercitypress via @threadreaderapp
Menninger: So you told the Epstein Victims Compensation Fund that the hand-handing in movie theaters was sexual abuse?
Annie Farmer: I told them in detail what happened.
Menninger: But you checked the box, New York. So you think hand holding is sexual abuse
Menninger: You are represented by the Boies Schiller firm, correct?
Annie Farmer: Yes.
Menninger: Do you know how much that firm has made in connection with representing Epstein accusers?
Judge Nathan: Objection.
Menninger - and you --
Judge Nathan: Stop!
Menninger: You are on a WhatsApp group of Epstein victims, right?
Annie Farmer: Right.
Menninger: And you have emailed with Virginia Roberts, right?
Annie Farmer: I have.
Re-direct.
AUSA Pomerantz: Do you recall being asked of your FBI statements in 2006?
Annie Farmer: I do.
AUSA: Read the rest of the sentence.
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection!
Judge Nathan: Overruled.
Annie Farmer: They canceled Maria trip to NM at the last minute.
AUSA Pomerantz: You mentioned the film Primal Fear-
Annie Farmer: The movie depicts sexual misconduct
[wiki: Primal Fear is a 1996 American legal thriller film [about] a Chicago attorney who believes that his client is not guilty of murdering a Catholic archbishop
AUSA Pomerantz: Did you need a piece of paper to remember Maxwell touching your breasts?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection!
Annie Farmer: I do not. It was distressing. Those are things that we remember.
Annie Farmer: I believe they were trying to confuse me as to the boundaries, as to what was right and wrong, in order to sexually abuse me.
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection!
Judge Nathan: Overruled.
AUSA: No further questions.
Judge Nathan: Next witness.
And now before the next witness, Judge Nathan calls a break, urging counsel to confer.
The next witness is David Mulligan, now a baker, Annie Farmer's boyfriend in high school.
AUSA: Did Annie tell you how how the trip to Thailand was paid for?
Mulligan: Yes. Jeffrey Epstein.
AUSA: What did Annie tell you about being in New York?
Mulligan: That Epstein touched her leg in the theater and that she didn't want to say anything because Epstein was helping her sister Maria's artistic career.
Now cross examination by Maxwell's Bobbi Sternheim.
Sternheim: You've seen things in the media about this?
Mulligan: I'm not much of a news watcher.
Sternheim: You know she made $1.5 million?
Mulligan: I do not.
Sternheim: Annie Farmer attended your recent wedding, correct?
Mulligan: Yes.
Sternheim: No further questions.
Redirect.
AUSA: Why do you remember what Annie Farmer told you about New Mexico?
Mulligan: These were big moments, that we discussed while being physically affectionate with each other.
AUSA: No further questions.
Judge Nathan: Next witness.
Next witness is the mother of Annie Farmer, Janice Swain.
AUSA: How old are you:
Swain: 71.
AUSA: When did you speak with Jeffrey Epstein?
Swain: When he wanted to take Maria on his plane to Florida on a work trip.
Swain: Then Epstein told me about a meeting of students at his ranch in New Mexico, to talk about college plans. I asked who would be chaperoning? He said his wife Ghislaine would be.
Swain: Annie returned with a pair of black boots. She said Jeffrey Epstein bought them for her. She seemed very tired. Later I asked what happened in New Mexico.
AUSA: What did she say?
Annie Farmer: That she didn't want to talk about it.
AUSA: No further questions
Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: You don't know if Maxwell was aware whether Maria would travel to New Mexico, do you? And when Annie was in Thailand you were in Germany, correct?
Swain: Yes.
Menninger: No further questions.
AUSA: The government rests.
Jury leaves.
Maxwell's laywer Everdell: Defense moves for acquittal.
Judge Nathan: As to all counts?
Everdell: Yes. Counts depend on the testimony of Jane. There is no evidence that anyone persuaded or induced Jane to come to NY.
Everdell: There is flying BACK to Palm Beach - that is not enticing to New York. Accompanying is not encouraging. All Ghislaine did was paperwork.
AUSA Rohrbach: The court should deny the motion. Jane was not in NY by accident. There was no non-sexualized reason. Jane said the defendant talked about sex with her - the enticement statute applies.
Judge Nathan: Motions are denied. What do we need to discuss before Thursday?
Team Maxwell: We want our witnesses anonymous too.
Judge Nathan: It should have been raised earlier. The earliest decision I can give you is Wednesday evening. And charging conference on Saturday, Dec 18.
Judge Nathan: So defense case 16th and 17th --
Maxwell's lawyer: Into the 20th.
Judge Nathan: So closing arguments on the 21st.
Maxwell's lawyer Sternheim: We don't want the jury to rush to decide before Christmas holiday.
Judge Nathan: We'll see where we are.
Sternheim: US has already said there will be a rebuttal case. We don't want the jury to rush.
AUSA: It'd only be a rebuttal expert. We'll be ready to close day after evidence.
Adjourned. - out into the streets
by mmmm8 I'm confused about why Maxwell's assault is not "illegal sexual activity" just because the victim wasn't underage per NM law. Isn't it still assault? Is it because the victim had previously sued her?
by
ti-amie
Federal Judge Denies Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘Unprecedented’ Bid for Witness Anonymity as Defense Case Begins
ADAM KLASFELD Dec 16th, 2021, 10:26 am
“These reasons for granting the Government’s prior motion do not apply to the Defense’s present request,” the ruling states. “Based on the current proffer, none of the Defense’s witnesses intend to testify to sensitive personal topics or sexual conduct. Rather, they all are anticipated to deny misconduct by Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, and therefore do not qualify as victims under § 3771.”
That is the statute codifying crime victims’ rights.
“Further, there is no similar concern, as there are for alleged victims of sexual abuse, that denying the use of pseudonyms will deter reports of misconduct,” Nathan added.
The judge described Maxwell’s request as “unprecedented.”
“It is notable that the Defense does not cite in support of its motion a single case in which a court granted the use of pseudonyms to defense witnesses,” the ruling states. “Neither does the Government. And nor could the Court after significant independent research. It appears, then, that the Defense’s requested relief is unprecedented.”
Maxwell’s defense team argued that the intense media focus on their client’s case required groundbreaking action, but Judge Nathan rejected that proposition, citing the likewise high-profile case of NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere.
“There, after a defendant pled guilty, the defense sought to keep letters submitted in support of the defendant at sentencing anonymous, arguing that anonymity was necessary because ‘the authors of supportive letters may face retribution if their identities are publicly known, given the public attention that has been paid to this case’ and that failure to do so ‘will have a chilling effect on individuals who wish to speak in support of defendants in other high-profile prosecutions,'” the judge noted. “The court acknowledged the individuals’ ‘genuine interest in assisting sentencing while remaining out of the public eye themselves,’ but concluded that their letters about the defendant did ‘not involve traditionally private matters’ and that the public’s interest in access prevailed.”
For Judge Nathan, the same reasoning prevailed in Maxwell’s case.
Maxwell also argued that certain witnesses might not testify in her defense without anonymity, compromising her right to a fair trial.
Judge Nathan questioned why the defense raised this concern only after the government rested its case.
“If the Defense anticipated calling a witness who refuses to testify, the Defense would have the same tools at its disposal as does the Government to compel that witness’s attendance at trial,” the ruling states.
Maxwell’s defense case started on Thursday morning. The first witness, Cimberly Espinosa, was a former executive assistant for Epstein who praised Maxwell as a boss.
Read the ruling below:
https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/ghi ... se-begins/
by ti-amie matthew russel lee as @innercitypress via @threadreaderapp
OK - Now Trial Day 11 of US v. #GhislaineMaxwell, Inner City Press is reporting on the case including 3 day (DC) hiatus and will now continue live tweeting the trial day(s), thread below patreon.com/posts/59982178
Judge Alison Nathan, who yesterday in DC forwarded her nomination to 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, takes the bench & just begins ruling on the filings that built up over the 3 day hiatus (request for call in line amid Omicron and all flight logs still UNacted on)
Judge Nathan: About Doctor Loftus' testimony. The US seeks to exclude 2 aspects, her testimony on leading questions and therapists' techniques. I have ruled that these are generally admissible. I deny the government's motion to preclude.
Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim: I didn't think there was a need to make this part of the public record.
[Talk, which we'll also anonymize, is about positive COVID test. But question: has the 3 day hiatus made a COVID impact on this trial more or less likely?]
Judge Nathan: I let a juror deliberate remotely...
[That was in US v. Nejad, which Inner City Press also covered, in March 2020]
Team Maxwell: Our first witness, Ms. Espinosa, has given us some photos of the soap opera of "Jane"
[Maxwell doxing alert]
OK - it's on.
Maxwell's lawyer: In October 1996, where were you living?
Witness: I started out on the Upper East Side.
Maxwell's lawyer: I was hired as a lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein's company.
Maxwell's lawyer: Would you recognize Ms. Maxwell today?
Ms. Espinosa: She's over there, in what appears to be a PURPLE [or maroon : ) ] sweater.
[Identification made]
Maxwell's lawyer: Where else did you work?
Ms. Espinosa: Sometimes at Ghislaine's residence.
Ms. Espinosa: Did did have other personal assistants come through, like Sarah Kellen and Emmy Tayler.
Maxwell's lawyer: When did you see Sarah Kellen?
Ms. Espinosa: More toward the end.
Maxwell's lawyer: Can you describe the layout of the office on Madison Avenue?
Espinosa: You get off the elevator and there are the restrooms. Jeffrey's office was in the corner. I sat to the left of his assistant. My office was Ghislaine's office. We shared it.
Maxwell's lawyer: Did you sign a non disclosure agreement?
Espinosa: Yes.
Espinosa: Ghislaine ran the properties for Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell's lawyer: Where did she fall in importance?
Espinosa: She was obviously very important to me. And to Jeffrey, given his personal residences.
Espinosa: Jeffrey acquired a Paris apartment, and then an island. It was called Little St. James but got renamed, Little Saint Jeff's.
Maxwell's lawyer: Did you assist?
Espinosa: There was construction. I furnished the house, in a resort style.
Espinosa: We shipped in sand --
Maxwell's lawyer: You shipped in sand to a tropical island?
Espinosa: He wanted more sand on the beach. And palm trees. We even had a fire truck and fire men on the island.
Espinosa: Before Jeffrey would visit one of the residences, we would fly in the bread he liked. I think we did butter, too.
Maxwell's lawyer: What about Emmy Tayler?
Espinosa: She would take care of the dog, and carry Ghislaine's handbag.
Maxwell's lawyer: Did Ghislaine ever live with Jeffrey Epstein?
Espinosa: No.
Maxwell's lawyer: What about 44 Kinnerton Street in London?
Espinosa: Yes, I've been there. 3 years ago.
Maxwell's lawyer: Do you know who owned it?
Espinosa: No.
Maxwell's lawyer: Did Jeffrey Epstein receive female visitors in his office?
Espinosa: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: Look at this docuemnt & call the person "Jane." Do you recall seeing her in the office?
Espinosa: Yes
Maxwell's lawyer: How old did she seem?
Espinosa: 18
Maxwell's lawyer: Do you know if Jane traveled in Mr. Epstein's planes?
Espinosa: I don't know. She moved to California to be on a soap opera. It's my favorite soap opera. I have headshots she sent me.
[doxing alert]
Maxwell's lawyer: We want to introduce these headshots into the records under seal, at least temporarily. I have copies for the jurors. Can your read the envelope?
Espinosa: It's from Jane to Cimberly [she pronounces her name Kimberly] It's headshots of the cast
Espinosa: Ghislaine and Epstein at that time were behaving like a couple. All flirty. It seemed like Ghislaine moved on. I know she started dating --
Assistant US Attorney: Objection! Lack of foundation.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
Maxwell's lawyer: Who came to visit Jeffrey Epstein at the office?
Espinosa: Gwendolyn Beck.... Shelly Lewis... She was British.
Maxwell's lawyer: Moving on, when Ghislaine went to Florida, was it only Palm Beach?
Espinosa: Miami too. She had a friend there.
Maxwell's lawyer: Do you know who Ted Waitt is?
Espinosa: I learned.
[Gateway co-founder]
Judge Nathan: We'll stop here for the mid-morning break.
Everdell: Do you know if Ms. Maxwell got married?
Espinosa starts to answer but AUSA objects.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
Everdell: OK, when did you have a video conference with the government about this case?
Espinosa: November 2020.
Everdell: Do you know if Ms. Maxwell got married?
Espinosa starts to answer but AUSA objects.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
Everdell: OK, when did you have a video conference with the government about this case?
Espinosa: November 2020.
Everdell: Why did you leave?
Espinosa: After 9/11 I wanted to return to California. I feel like Ghislaine was a good resource for my own career, what I learned, how to handle multiple projects at one time. It helped me get to where I am today.
Everdell: did you ever seen Jeffrey Epstein involved with young girls?
Espinosa: No.
Everdell: No further questions.
Judge Nathan: Cross.
AUSA: You never went to Palm Beach, right?
Espinosa: No.
AUSA: No further questions.
Next witness: Raghu Sud.
Everdell: Where do you live?
Sud: East Windsor, NJ. I work at Shopper's Travel since 1988. I am Vice President.
Everdell: Was Epstein a customer?
Sud: Yes.
Everdell: Can you authenticate these travel records? Yes.
AUSA: These records in RS-1, they are to 2006?
Yes.
Everdell: No re-direct.
[Will these defense exhibits be made available a la Rakoff? documentcloud.org/documents/2051…
Next witness: Elizabeth Loftus, who testified for Harvey Weinstein. First, her credentials. This could take a while.
Loftus: I have a big c.v. I have been consulted by DOJ, the CIA...
Maxwells' lawyer: Are there experiments on emotion and its impact on memory?
Loftus: I published one in 2008. We implanted entire flash events and measures responses
Loftus: I've testified in 300 trials. I've only consulted with the prosecution 5 times, and testified only one for the prosecution. My research into false memory doesn't fit into their agenda.
Loftus is accepted as an expert witness in this case.
Loftus: Your Honor, can I used the equipment to show the jurors the three stages?
AUSA Pomerantz: No objection.
Loftus: The media is a source of post-event false memories, contamination.
Loftus (bragging) - And when I was consulting for with Secret Service...
[Wag Q: And when was that?
Loftus has drawn a barbell, labeled "Acquisition - Retention - Retrieval." Now she says people might remember something as a dumbbell is it's labeled so
Update: Now Loftus has drawn a box under the bar of the barbell and has written in it the word "Time."
Judge Nathan: OK, we're going to take the lunch break. Jurors, enjoy your lunch. [They leave]
Judge Nathan: I'll look at your submissions while I have my lunch.
Judge Nathan: We'll try to come to resolution before the jury comes back. Mr. Hamilton, you're going to confer on that, how to make it happen.
Maxwell's lawyer: If he's up to it.
by ti-amie Inner City Press via @threadreaderapp
OK - now US v. #GhislaineMaxwell trial Day 11, afternoon thread. Maxwell's lawyer want to put in "prior inconsistent statement" of survivor witness Carolyn, after they finish the paid memory decay expert Loftus. Inner City Press will live tweet, thread below
Judge Nathan: What else?
Maxwell's lawyer: The US' rebuttal expert, I'm prepared to file something if they actually call the expert.
Judge Nathan: Hamilton?
Everdell: We reached him, he can do WebEx tomorrow.
Sternheim: Because of his condition, we haven't spoken.
Jury entering!
Maxwell's lawyer: Dr Loftus, are you aware of image enhancing memory distortion?
Loftus: It makes people feel better about themselves.
Maxwell's lawyer: I asked you about C.V. So I move into evidence your C.V.
AUSA: Objection.
Judge Nathan: I am allowing in Dr Loftus' C.V.
Maxwell's lawyer: What are you charging?
Loftus: $600 an hour.
Maxwell's lawyer: Media distortion includes dramatic portrayals, right?
Loftus: Oh, yes.
Cross examination.
AUSA Pomerantz: Let's talk about consulting. You've done it with defense attorneys 100s of times, right?
Loftus: Probably.
AUSA: You've only consulted with the prosecutors five times, right?
Loftus: Right.
AUSA: In your book "Witness for the Defense," you wrote that you should be an advocate
Loftus: That leaves out the context --
AUSA: You don't sit in courtroom - you weren't present for testimony on this case, right?
Loftus: I was not present in the courtroom.
AUSA: You're charging the defendant $600 an hour right now, right?
Loftus: Yes.
AUSA: You were paid for high profile defendants, right? Millions of dollars?
Loftus: I don't know how much.
AUSA: In 1975 you didn't charge $600 a hour, right?
Loftus: I did it free.
AUSA: You market yourself by testifying, right?
Loftus: I don't market myself at all.
AUSA: You give lists of your cases to defense attorneys, right?
Loftus: When asked.
AUSA: You testified for Harvey Weinstein, right?
Judge Nathan: Just a moment.
[When they resume, there's no more mention of Harvey Weinstein. At least not yet.]
AUSA: When you testify for high profile defendants, it brings you more business, right?
Loftus: Maybe.
AUSA: You showed fake photos of Bugs Bunny at Disney, right?
Loftus: Yes.
AUSA: Bugs Bunny is Warner Brothers, but 16% misremembered, right?
Maxwell's lawyer: I object.
Judge Nathan: You can come up.
[Sidebar]
Lawyers return from sidebar.
Loftus: Some falsely remembered touching Bugs Bunny's head and him saying "What's Up, doc?"
[#WhatsUpDoc - $600/hour]
AUSA: There's a science museum experiment, right?
AUSA: And the lost in the mall study - 25% misremembered, right?
Loftus: Correct.
AUSA: I'm not going to ask you to describe a rectal enema, but it's a painful procedure, right?
Loftus: Yes.
AUSA: This memory could not easily be implanted
Re-direct.
Maxwell's lawyer: There are restrictions on what kind of studies you can do, right?
AUSA: Objection.
Judge Nathan: I'll allow it.
Loftus: We can't implant memories of sexual abuse.
Next witness: Michael William Aznaran.
Maxwell's lawyer: We need a sidebar.
Judge Nathan: Wait for the break.
Maxwell's lawyer: Where do you work?
Aznaran: Customs & Border Protection. We check incoming people
Maxwell's letter: Look at this sealed Exhibit GX12. Call her Jane. Did you search for this?
Aznaran: I did.
Maxwell's lawyer: And Kate and Annie Farmer, did you search for them?
Aznaran: Yes, I did the searches.
Maxwell's lawyer: So now we need the sidebar.
Judge Nathan: We'll get the jurors their afternoon break.
[Jury leaves, no mention of snacks]
Judge Nathan: Mr. Azaran, could you step out?
AUSA: These are 15 years of records, including outside the charges time frame.
by ti-amie From @innercitypress via @threadreaderapp
Now the exhibit is going sealed. Everdell continues Q&A
Aznaran: At JFK, each of the five international terminals has a code and it's in this report. I ran it Dec 14
Everdell: What does airline not APIS mean?
Aznaran: APIS is Advanced Passenger Information System.
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: So for Annie Farmer, you have records from 1997 to 2006?
Aznaran: Yes.
Everdell: And this one, for Jane - you see her date of birth, right? Can I say the year?
[doxing alert]
Cross examination.
AUSA: What are the differences between CBP record before and after 9/11?
Aznaran: The further back you go, you won't get an on-board or not on-board status.
AUSA: So the ones before 9/11 were not as complete?
Aznaran: Not all the time.
Judge Nathan (at 4:52 pm) Defense may call its next witness.
It's Dominique Hyppolite.
Maxwell's lawyer: Where do you live and work?
Hyppolite: Palm Beach school district. I coordinate the processing of subpoenas and represent the district as records custodian.
Inner City Press @innercitypress
Maxwell's lawyer: May I approach the witness with a document?
Judge Nathan: It's 5 pm. Let's end for the day.
AUSA: We could just stipulate to this.
Defense: remaining witnesses Eva, Michele & Kelly. Depending on your rulings.
Judge Nathan: Letters due at 7:30 pm (Inner City Press will report - IF they get docketed)
Defense: We might end tomorrow, or on Monday.
Judge Nathan: Closings on Monday, then. Charge and to the jury.
[So, before Christmas? Countdown.
Judge Nathan: This is usually the point I allocute the defendant [that is, ask if they'll testify]
Defense: Let's do that tomorrow.
Judge Nathan: So we'll do the closings and charge on Monday
[meaning, deliberation on Tuesday Dec 21
Xmas...
Judge Nathan: So we're done. You'll get the draft charge tomorrow.
[With defense agreeing closings Monday, seems clear Maxwell will NOT testify]
Judge Nathan: Letters due at 7:30 pm (Inner City Press will report - IF they get docketed)
by ti-amie Matthew Russell Lee as @innercitypress via @threadreaderapp
OK - it's US v. #GhislaineMaxwell trial Day 12, defense arguing to keep their case open until Monday for a final, 81-year old witness. Inner City Press is reporting on the case and will live tweet, thread below patreon.com/posts/60022486
Judge Nathan: I'm letting in the documents about residence versus ownership. If I weren't, you might have a point. Is this deposition transcript new to you?
Maxwell's lawyer: She was deposed in a slip and fall case.
Judge Nathan: You'll provide the transcript.
Judge Nathan: I have a rule, you have your next witness or you rest. If otherwise the case closes today, it closes today.
[Couldn't Maxwell's lawyers just do super-long direct examination? And what about the 3 day hiatus?]
Maxwell's lawyer: Also if the Marshals can produce another witness we've subpoenaed... The other witness, from the UK, if they will stipulate to it, there'd be no review.
Assistant US Attorney: The subpoenaed witness Kelly, we have no idea what she'd say. No stip
Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: I understand your Honor wants to run this quickly, but it's a lot of work.
Judge Nathan (laughs) I understand that, Ms. Menninger. Give me a written application and a proposed order in half an hour.
Judge Nathan: There are also some 40 prior inconsistent statements. My colleague Judge Kaplan has helpfully set forth the standard.
[He's the judge with Giuffre v. Prince Andrew before him, which Inner City Press is also reporting on]
Judge Nathan: Annie said she didn't remember a chef being there [on the Zorro ranch] but that it made sense to her, so not inconsistency. And the amount of horseback riding is a collateral issue.
Maxwell's lawyer: I think impeachment is for the truth [of the matter asserted]
Judge Nathan: That's way too metaphysical for me to handle right now. (Laughs).
Maxwell's lawyer: We'll have a law enforcement witness and we'd like to ask leading questions.
Judge Nathan: Truth comes out on direct. Start with that.
Maxwell's lawyer: I want to get to the absence of evidence, the lack of GPS given the age of the allegations.
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: I wanted to ask the agent, that the complaint was first on one time frame then more recent, with Carolyn. I think that's relevant.
AUSA: The court has already ruled on this - the path of the investigation. Let's them raise it in closing
Judge Nathan: Who's the first [defense] witness today?
Maxwell's lawyer: First Special Agent Jason Richards. Then we would have had Agent Young. Then [drumroll] Eva Dubin
OK - jury is finally called in at 10:30 am, an hour late
All rise!
Witness is Agent Jason Richards.
Maxwell's Pagliuca: Where are you based?
Richards: Miami. Before, Palm Beach.
Pagliuca: Let's turn to 2006.
Richards: I was in Unit PV-2. We investigated Epstein.
Pagliuca: Did you interview Carolyn - don't say her last name?
Agent Richards: I did.
Pagluca: Did you recall Carolyn saying she obtained Epstein's number from a phone book and that Epstein returned her call?
Richards: If that's what's in the 302 report.
Pagliuca: No further questions.
Cross.
AUSA: Do you show your 302s to those you speak to?
Richards: No.
Judge Nathan: Defense may call it's next witness.
Maxwell's lawyer: We call Agent Amanda Young.
[Eva Dubin next they's said anchor.fm/innercity-pres…]
Maxwell's lawyer: Agent Young, was your partner Detective Burns?
Young: Yes. We both check the 302.
Maxwell's lawyer: You just heard Ms. Comey's questions to Agent Richards. 302s are not transcripts, right?
Young: They are not.
Maxwell's lawyer: You interviewed Annie Farmer. About the boots, right?
Young: Yes. The boots were obtained by law enforcement this year. I don't remember which month.
Maxwell's lawyer: Read this.
Young: "In the beginning, Jane would be with her mother and brothers at the Epstein house."
Maxwell's lawyer (Menninger) - I want to turn to page 7. You wrote, Jane did not recall specific abuse that may have occurred in New Mexico
Maxwell's lawyer: Just to emphasize, the boots were discussed recently?
Young: Yes.
Cross.
AUSA: What did you do before?
Young; I interviewed children about child abuse.
[Now there is a sidebar. Agent Amanda Young sits in the plexi-glass witness box, in dark blue shirt, black jacket. They're back]
Judge Nathan: Jurors will disregard the statement about Agent Young's previous job interviewing children.
AUSA: Did Jane need more than one meeting to say what happened?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection! Beyond the scope!
AUSA: I'll try another way. Who was there for the inverviews?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection! Beyond the scope - I didn't ask about this.
Redirect:
Maxwell's Menninger: You used these notes with the grand jury, right?
Young: Some of them.
Maxwell's Menninger: Did you show her the 302s?
Young. No. It's not ethical. It's not appropriate.
Maxwell's Menninger: You don't record them?
Young: Only those in custody. Not victim / witnesses.
Maxwell's Menninger: Are you familiar with the DOJ Obtaining Evidence protocols?
AUSA: Objection.
Judge Nathan: Overruled.
Menninger: I have a document, I can show it
[And now, yet another sidebar. and now - the next witness: Eva Dubin]
Since Dubin's testimony is a major highlight I'm making a separate page for it.
P1
by ti-amie P2
[And now, yet another sidebar. and now - the next witness: Eva Dubin]
Witness: I am Eva Andersson. I also go by Eva Andersson-Dubin. I live in NYC. I am 60.
Maxwell's lawyer: You are married to Glenn Dubin?
Eva: Yes. 28 years. We have 3 children: 27, 25 & 20
Maxwell's lawyer: Gender?
Eva: Female, male, female.
Maxwell's lawyer: What does Mr. Dubin do for employment?
Eva: He is self-employed. I was previously employed as a medical doctor.
Eva: I went to medical school in Stockholm, then UCLA. Then Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC.
Maxwell's lawyer: Did you know Mr. Epstein?
Eva: We dated off and on from 1983 until 1991.
[Note: it's reported that Virginia Robert Giuffre gave Eva a non-sexual massage then after Eva fell asleep, had intercourse with Glenn. Cross-examination? #MaximumMaxwell patreon.com/posts/60022486
Maxwell's lawyer: Did you ever witness any sexual contact between Mr Epstein and --
AUSA Moe: Objection!
[Another sidebar]
Maxwell's lawyer: Let me show you some photographs under seal. Is one person Mr. Epstein and the other one of your children?
Eva: Yes it's the 20. I've never seen this picture before.
Maxwell's lawyer: Let me ask you about flight records.
[These remain largely redacted and Inner City Press' challenge still not docketed - apparently under the theory that if it's denied, it's not a judicial document documentcloud.org/documents/2115…
Judge Nathan: I'll give the jurors their mid-morning break.
Jurors leave, and witness steps out.
Judge Nathan: If there's something inaccurate in the media writ-large, like a blog post...
Judge Nathan: I sustain the government's objection [to asking about published flight logs] under 401 and 403. Now we'll take our break.
Jury is back.
Maxwell's lawyer: Let's look at GX662r, the redacted flight logs of Dave Roberts. Can you see it Doctor Dubin?
Judge Nathan: Can we make sure it is redacted? If so it may be published
On the screen, flight with "JE, Eva Andersson" and Ms. Francis Jardine.
Maxwell's lawyer: Do you remember Francis Jardine?
Eva: I remember Francis, I didn't know her last name.
Maxwell's lawyer: you knew Mr. Epstein was dating her?
Eva: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: I'll show you sealed exhibit GX12... and now, only for the witness and court, unredacted Exhibit 662.
[Nothing shown on screen]
Eva: I recognize Sophie Biddle, a massage therapist... And I see my husband's name.
Maxwell's lawyer: Without saying the name that we are not saying, do you see it on the list?
Eva: Yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: Have you ever been in a group sexual encounter with Jane?
Eva: I have not.
Maxwell's lawyer: That's all I have.
Judge Nathan: Ms. Moe.
Cross.
AUSA Moe: Are you the only Eva in the whole wide world?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection on relevance.
Judge Nathan: Overruled.
AUSA Moe: Did you ever discuss with Mr. Epstein his relationship with Ms Maxwell?
Maxwell's lawyer: Hearsay.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
AUSA Moe: With respect, do you have issues with your memory?
Eva: I can't remember things from last month.
Maxwell's lawyer: This does not need to be discussed.
AUSA Moe: Nothing further.
No redirect.
Judge Nathan: Defense may call its next witness.
by ti-amie P3
It's Michelle Healy. She says: I'm 47, live in Dallas, as a housewife. My husband is an architect. My system Shannon lives in Albuqueque. I grew up on Long Island. NY from 1974 to 1999.
Menninger: Where did you work in 1996?
Healy: J. Epstein and company.
Healy: I went to Zorro ranch, my sister was working there.
Maxwell's lawyer: Were you ever involved in any group sexualized massages with Jane?
Healy: Absolutely not.
Cross.
AUSA Comey: Are you the only Michelle in the world?
Michelle Healy: I hope not.
AUSA: Never flew on Epstein's plane?
Healy: No.
AUSA: Nothing further.
Lunch break - story innercitypress.com/sdnytrial47max… coming on @SubstackInc & then... live stream? Watch this feed.
Still not out in Foley Square - in court with jury out, Maxwell's lawyer pushing to have Nag's Head Pub witness testify on Monday.
Judge Nathan: I always say, I have so many bridges to cross. I cross the bridge that is in front of me.
Maxwell's lawyer: We want to put in property records about Stanhope Mews, too. They are self-authenticating.
Judge Nathan: What do we have after lunch?
Maxwell's lawyer: We'll try to work out the other stips.
Judge Nathan: So, no more defense witnesses? I'm going to spend my remaining lunch hour reviewing Kelly.
AUSA: If not Monday morning, it's too late.
Judge Nathan: It'll be a long break for the jury - try to confer.
Judge Nathan: It'll be a long break for the jury - try to confer.
Now out to Foley Square
watch this feed
Still waiting for return of #MaxwellTrial jury, now 2:25 pm.
Jury *still* not back, 2:42 pm. Judge Nathan said she intends to ask #GhislaineMaxwell whether she intends to testify. Now Maxwell is talking at length with her lawyer Bobbi Sternheim and others.
by ti-amie
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
Judge Nathan: I'm sustaining the objection, given the posture of that case at the time [it was on summary judgment]
AUSA: In the old deposition of Epstein, the government's goal wasn't what it is here, to determine where he was living, there or on 9 East 71st St
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
44s
Maxwell's lawyer: Jane says Epstein was living in 9 East 71st on 1994. But this case says different.
Judge Nathan: It's not coming in. And I heard, no arrest warrant for Kelly>
Maxwell's lawyer: No need to arrest Kelly "Bolino" (sp)
AUSA: No government rebuttal case
by ti-amie via @innercitypress
Maxwell's lawyer: Jane says Epstein was living in 9 East 71st on 1994. But this case says different.
Judge Nathan: It's not coming in. And I heard, no arrest warrant for Kelly>
Maxwell's lawyer: No need to arrest Kelly "Bolino" (sp)
AUSA: No government rebuttal case
Now: allocution.
Judge Nathan: Ms. Maxwell, please rise. The decision to testify or not is your decision. Do you understand?
Maxwell: Your Honor, the government had not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. So there is no need for me to testify.
by ti-amie In response to a question as to whether the jury will get the case now
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
3m
No - they will read into the record 15 minutes of stipulations. They will do a charging conference - Saturday : ( to decide on how to charge the jury. Monday, closing arguments and the charge. THEN the jury get the case, to deliberate
by ti-amie via @innercitypress
Now stipulations being read into the record including...
Annie Farmer's boots were seized by the FBI on June 29, 2021.
Also, when the Lion King opened.
and that Dominique Hyppotite would testify that the Palm Beach school maintains records (Roberts)
by ti-amie I am really surprised he can do this. Matthew Russell Lee as @innercitypress
OK - in US v. #GhislaineMaxwell, it's the Saturday "charging conference" to argue how the jury will be instructed before they deliberate on Maxwell's fate. Inner City Press will live tweet, thread below.
Judge Nathan: I have distributed my draft charge. Now we will discuss it.
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: We say foreign commerce should be excluded. There's no evidence in the record about Ms. Maxwell enticing Virginia Roberts, only of Roberts enticing Carolyn.
AUSA: We're OK with removing foreign commerce from Counts 1-4.
[Note: Ghislaine Maxwell is here, sitting in the corner as ever with two (female) U.S. Marshals behind her, today in gray sweater.]
Judge Nathan: Mr. Everdell, help me find each "foreign commerce."
Everdell: We want it to say that Count 4 relates solely to Jane. With respect to Kate, there was no violation of New York law - she was above the age of consent. And Annie, whatever she may be claiming in New Mexico, there was no violation of law. So only Jane
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: Annie and Kate are not victims of this conspiracy.
Judge Nathan: That's why there was a different limiting instruction.
Everdell: Traveling from Arizona to New Mexico did not have its object violating New York law.
AUSA: You're conflating the conspiracy and the substantive counts.
Judge Nathan: The [defense] objection is overruled. Page 15 adding "solely" between "relates" and the world "to." That is, "relates SOLELY to" Jane.
Everdell: Page 16, line 2 - also change that.
Judge Nathan: I will.
Everdell: Let's take out the word "minor," it creates a lot of ambiguity.
Judge Nathan: let's say, "individuals under the age of 18."
[Visual update: upon further reflecting, Maxwell's sweater may be green. Her brother in the front row of the gallery takes down his mask, takes swig of bottled water]
[Update: Maxwell's brother, reading from a cell phone, puts his mask back up.]
Everdell: We'd like to omit another "or foreign"
Judge Nathan: Done.
Everdell: We object to the word coerced, we'd like it removed.
[Bobbi Sternheim come from front table back to where Everdell is, next to Maxwell, and whispers in his ear, pointing at Judge Nathan's charge. A copy of a case is handed to AUSA Rohrbach]
Everdell: I can get you a typewritten proposed instruction, like the one given by Judge Rakoff in US v. Miller.
[Pause while Judge Nathan and AUSA Rohrbach and AUSA Maurene Comey read the case they've been handed]
Judge Nathan returns with a Federal Appendix case found by "my crack law clerks." It seems the 2d Circuit, to which Judge Nathan aspires, permits two different charges on "one dominant purpose."
Everdell: Page 24, we want it to say "Ms Maxwell" not "the defendant"
Everdell: We want the word "solely" on line 12.
Judge Nathan: Done. And I'll strike "and foreign" on page 25.
Everdell: There, we also object to the use of the language of the statute - we want a bracket.
Judge Nathan: I spent an inordinate amount of time on this
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: here it says "between the US and a foreign country." That should be out.
AUSA: Fine.
[Note: Now it's Menninger huddling in the corner with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is speaking with her hands - whispering through mask but gesticulating]
Everdell: In the title, we'd like to change minor to person under 18.
AUSA: The indictment says "minor." But we are not seeking to send the indictment back with the jury.
Judge Nathan: So you are in vigorous agreement.
[Laughter among lawyers.]
[Note: Maxwell's lawyer Menninger has picked up her bag and coat and she's left the courtroom. Everdell is running the show on the jury charge, vs AUSA Rohrbach (though AUSA's Lara Pomeratz and Maurene Comey taking and passing copious notes).
Everdell: With respect to Jane, we want to use the word "alleges." And here, we'd like you to simply eliminate the reference to age.
AUSA: We can remove age, let the jury decide Annie's age.
Everdell: We preserve our objection with respect to the topless massage.
Maxell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim jumps in and gets a change. By contrast AUSA Lara Pomerantz passes a note to AUSA Maurene Comey, who reads it and passes it on to AUSA Rohrback, who's doing the speaking. He says, We're OK to cut "including at times Maxwell."
Judge Nathan: So we're taking Kate out of the overt acts. And, let's take a break.
Everdell: We want the "conscious avoidance" language out. The record shows people saying their ages. I need to break this into 2 pieces. There was testimony about multiple females being at the Palm Beach residence. But what ages did they look like?
Everdell: Mr. Alessi said he only saw two people who looked under age. Jane says she was 14 or 15 and we say no, she was older. Carolyn says, I was such and such age. But we say we made nothing to do with Carolyn.
Everdell: Maybe Mr. Epstein slipped in a couple of teenagers.
AUSA: Carolyn was told to say she was 18.
Everdell: Carolyn was told by *Virginia* to say she was 18. That doesn't have anything to do with Ms. Maxwell.
Judge Nathan: We're going to include it. Wait, I have a comment on my own draft. The "he" should be replaced with "she."
Everdell: There were witnesses with felony convictions. We'd like the Sand instruction on the credibility of witnesses.
AUSA: We're not aware of this instruction being given in this District.
Judge Nathan: I haven't given that instruction.
Everdell: Maybe on cooperators?
Judge Nathan: Looks like I have give it as a separate instruction, in US v. Berry [Inner City Press also covered
Everdell: We want the instruction that US but not the defense can offer immunity. One of our witnesses said they would invoke the Fifth.
AUSA: Virginia Robert could have been called by the defense --
Defense: I'm not referring to her. I'm referring to Sarah Kellen
AUSA Rohrback: We don't want in closing the argument about the empty chair and why the government is prosecuting.
Everdell: Let's turn to the verdict sheet. Take out the word minor, put in "individuals under the age of 17."
Judge Nathan: OK.
AUSA: We have one nit. Where it's supposed to be, Mark your verdict with a check mark, you actually use a "T" in parenthesis.
Judge Nathan (laughs) I don't know how that got in there. We'll fix it.
Judge Nathan: This should be a two hour closing.
AUSA Comey: But we have exhibits. So two and a half.
Judge Nathan: Can you do thirty for the rebuttal?
AUSA Comey: I'd ask for the court's indulgence for more
Judge Nathan: Thirty five minutes.
[So 5 hours and 35 minutes and the charge, short lunch, Judge says]
Judge Nathan: The charge is 80 pages. My favorite part of the job, reading the charge (laughs). It should take an hour.
[So 6 hours and 35 minutes, plus breaks and lunch - can fit between 9 am and 6 pm, on Monday
AUSA Maurene Comey: To keep things confidential, during closings some exhibits will only be on the jurors' screen, not the public screen. We'll also turn the podium.
Judge Nathan: I will work on finalizing the charge.
[But will it go into the docket? Story soon
Addendum: Maxwell stayed in the courtroom after some others left. Finally the two Marshal escorted her toward the prisoners' door - she stopped on the way and exchanged words with her brother, then continue to the door.
by
ti-amie Matthew Russell Lee for/as
http://InnerCityPress.com
Part 1
Jury entering - all rise!
[Ghislaine Maxwell is in a beige sweater today, at defense table with Bobbi Sternheim. In front row of gallery, Kevin Maxwell and, yes, Leah Saffian innercitypress.com/sdnytrial48cma…
Judge Nathan: We'll break early for lunch, then we'll come back and hear Ms. Menninger. Then another break. Rebuttal by the government & instructions from me. Ms Moe?
AUSA Moe: Ghislaine Maxwell was dangerous. She targeted a girl whose father had just died [Jane]
AUSA Moe: Maxwell ran the same playbook again and again. She groomed them. She caused deep and lasting harm to young girls. It is time to hold her accountable.
[Maxwell flipping through papers, flipping hair].
AUSA Moe: You've heard from law enforcement officers
AUSA Moe: You've seen documents: phone messages, and a little black book with victims' names. This summation is our opportunity to explain who all this evidence fits together. Maxwell is guilty.
Today I'm going to talk to you about 8 different reasons she's guilty
AUSA Moe: First, Maxwell and Epstein were partners. They were in a romantic relationship. Maxwell wrote this document. [Not show to public or press.]
AUSA Moe (reading from slide not shown to press or public) "A couple for 11 years... great partners... rarely apart... best of friends." Does that sound like a personal assistant? No.
AUSA Moe: When you're with someone for 11 years you know what they like. Epstein liked young girls. Epstein could not have done this alone. A single middle aged man inviting a girl to a ranch is creepy. That set of "alarm balls."
AUSA Moe: Maxwell as key - you saw photos how close they were. Let's look at those. [Not shown to press or public]
AUSA Moe: You are looking at Maxwell and Epstein swimming naked in a pool. [Not shown during closing - and otherwise redacted or withheld] Here she is massaging Epstein's feet with her breasts.
AUSA Moe: Look at this exhibit, GMax about lotions. [Not shown to press or public]. Here's Juan Alessi's testimony about washing off dildos and returning them to a basket in Maxwell's bathroom.
AUSA Moe: Let's turn to Annie. She was hoping to go to a good college. Kate, she was alone a lot. She was dazzled by this impressive woman who made her feel special. Jane has been sexually abused by family members; her mother was an alcoholic
AUSA Moe: Maxwell was hanging out with these girls alone. Annie told you when she got to New Mexico, she found herself along with Maxwell and Epstein. They were isolating these girls for a reason. They paid for Jane's voice lessons and tuition.
AUSA Moe: For Annie, it started with Maxwell telling her to rub Epstein's feet. For Jane, it was Maxwell topless by the pool and talking about boyfriends, escalating to sexualized massages on Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell touched 3 of the 4's breasts
[Three of the four survivor / witnesses]. Jane told you; Maxwell did it to Annie too. Annie wanted to get off the massage table. Maxwell touched these girls' bodies. It's not an accident. It happened again and again and again.
AUSA Moe: Jane didn't become Epstein's so-called god-daughter by accident. Maxwell is guilty.
Here's what they did to Jane. This is Jane. [Photo not shown to press or public.] You learned of years of sexual abuse.
AUSA Moe: There are documents. Here's Jane's application to Interlochen [not shown to press or public]. There are flight logs. [Not shown during closing, perpetrators' names redacted along with victims in version belatedly provided]
AUSA Moe: She saw Maxwell topless by the pool. You know that, because now you've seen Maxwell topless by the pool. Jane told you how Epstein walked her to the pool house and he started masturb*ting on her. [Etc - this is in, but flight logs redacted
[Once US closing has already begun, the jury charge is finally put into the docket - Inner City Press will review it asap, or other can
AUSA Moe: You saw in Jane's face how hard it was for her to talk about this. She had to touch Epstein's pen*s. There were hands everywhere. There was horrifying group encounters with other women. It wasn't just in Florida, but also in NY but private jet
[by private jet, and commercial flights too]
AUSA Moe: There weren't any scholarship boys. No selection criteria beyond being a pretty, young, vulnerable girl. Jane was 14 and 15 and 16. He was use vibrat*ors...
AUSA: Here's the massage room in New York [not being shown to press or public]
AUSA Moe: Jane told Matt she had a godfather, that she had to do things she hadn't wanted to do it. That there was a woman who made her feel comfortable. Matt told you, "there was a woman in the house who made her feel comfortable." You know that's Maxwell.
AUSA Moe: You heard expert testimony from Doctor Rocchio. She's an expert. She told you, victims are less likely to tell the closer they are to the perpetrator. Maxwell was like a big sister to Jane.
AUSA Moe: Jane named five women who participated in group sex: Emmy, Kelly, Eva, Sophie and Michelle. The defense tried to undermine Jane on Eva and Michelle. But Jane never gave the last name. The black book had another Eva, and three Michelles. It was a sideshow
AUSA Moe: Annie told you how when Epstein touched her on the movie theater, he stopped when Maria was looking. Annie then flew to New Mexico, her mother thought it was about a scholarship.
AUSA Moe: Maxwell started ratcheting things up. Maxwell wanted to show Annie how to rub his feet. You saw the photo of Maxwell massaging Epstein's feet with her breast. This was not part of a mentoring program.
AUSA Moe: Maxwell was trying to normalize sex, because she was a predator. Maxwell insisted on giving Annie a massage, and touched her breasts. It was not therapeutic. This is not on the list of spa treatments anywhere.
AUSA: Mulligan remembered that Annie told him that Maxwell had bought her a pair of cowboy boots, and touched her breasts during the massage. In 2006 Annie told the FBI the same thing.
AUSA Moe: Now let's talk about Carolyn. She was introduced by Virginia Roberts. This is the same girl that Juan Alessi remembered, how at Mar-A-Lago Maxwell told him to pull over and went to talk to her.
AUSA Moe: Carolyn said Virginia told her how to make money, giving a massage to a wealthy man. Then Virginia and Epstein started having sex in front of her. This is the massage room. [Not shown to press or public.] This was not a place for therapeutic massages
AUSA Moe: Here by the master bedroom is a drawing of a young girl pulling down her underwear. Maxwell understood what was happening in that case. This was the beginning of years of sexual abuse. Sometimes Sarah Kellen would call Carolyn.
AUSA Moe: The phone messages corroborate Carolyn's testimony.
[Moe sites Government Exhibit 608, which is not among those belatedly uploaded yesterday. Also this one...
AUSA Moe: All of the masseuses are female. Who needs this many masseuses? The notes say, Mom, Dad. None of this was legitimate... Here's the employment record at Mar-A-Lago of Sky Roberts, Virginia's dad.
AUSA Moe: Here's an entry, "Melissa, Carolyn's friend." This proves that Maxwell is guilty.
[In the front row of the gallery, both Kevin Maxwell and Isabel Maxwell are leaning over, looking at exhibits that were handed to them - but withheld from press and public
AUSA Moe: In 2002, Epstein paid Maxwell $5 million... So it's a total of $30.7 million. Ask yourself, what was Maxwell doing for Epstein worth that? Epstein wanted to touch underage girls. Maxwell knew what the money was for.
AUSA Moe: Virginia Roberts was 17 and flying on the jet with Epstein and Maxwell. Virginia brought Carolyn to the Palm Beach house, when Carolyn was 14. It was a pyramid scheme of sex abuse.
AUSA Moe: The defense tried to tell you when Maxwell dated Ted Waitt, she was no longer around Epstein. False - she was still the lady of the house. Look at this manual.
AUSA Moe: There were no boys on Maxwell's list. She slept in a bedroom with a bathroom with lotions, and another bathroom where the dildos were stored. And Epstein paid Maxwell millions of dollars. She knew. She was complicit. She is guilty.
AUSA Moe: Let's talk about the charges, six counts. [Note: CourtListener still does not have the jury charge, which was only docketed on PACER this morning]
[Note - even now during the closing argument, with all slides and demonstrative withheld, searching in PACER for the jury charge, doesn't seem it's there, just a six page cover letter. #Fail
OK - Inner City Press has dug to get the jury charge, and puts it (in case as some complained DocumentCloud doesn't work) on Patreon here patreon.com/posts/60134510 and here it is on DocumentCloud documentcloud.org/documents/2116…
AUSA Moe: Beyond the law, and venue, let me respond to what the defense has said. In their opening, Maxwell's counsel said Maxwell is being blamed for something a man did. But she made her own choices.
AUSA Moe: This case is about manipulating young girls. And the case was about money. Carolyn got a few hundred dollars, Maxwell got $30 million.
AUSA Moe: This trial was also about memory - you heard about trauma. They argue Maxwell was too busy to commit these crimes. But Maxwell had personal assistants, and a woman to walk her dog. She ordered sand to be delivered to Epstein's private island.
AUSA Moe: Their expert Elizabeth Loftus tried to convince people they say Bugs Bunny at Disney World. She admits she is an advocate for the defense. She's made a lot of money.[Does not mention Harvey Weinstein, or Robert Durst, etc]
USA Moe: The payments under the Epstein victims compensation fund are done, the witnesses have no financial stake in the outcome of this trial. They are corroborated, by Juan Alessi, Mulligan, and the witnesses called Matt and Shawn
AUSA Moe: There is only one conclusion, that Maxwell is guilty and you should convict her. Use your common sense. You will reach the only verdict consistent with the evidence: Maxwell in guilty.
Judge Nathan: We're going to take a lunch break. [It's 11:16 am]
Judge Nathan: No discussions about the case.
Bobbi Sternheim: The massage table coming from California is not enough [for interstate commerce]. We want a limiting instruction.
[Eager to record short podcast - but defense keeps arguing, for mistrial, against invocation of grooming by proxy. And now -]
AUSA: We showed the listings in the list of masseuses of numbers for Mom and Dad.
Judge Nathan: I deny the motion for a mistrial.
by ti-amie Part 2 The Defense Closing Argument
OK - in US v. #GhislaineMaxwell now defense closing by Laura Menninger. Inner City Press covered US' closing, with all slides withheld (UNdocketed challenge here documentcloud.org/documents/2116…, and will live tweet this, thread below
Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: I am not here to defend Jeffrey Epstein. He is not my client. The US presented evidence like a sensational tabloid. Private island, photos. These were things that Epstein did, perhaps, his crimes. But Ghislaine Maxwell is not Epstein
Menninger: Where are the other 37,000 photographs? Who was in them? You don't know. They didn't bring you those photos. There were folders and binders. But they brought you the most innocuous photos of a couple that was once together.
Menninger: This is straight up sensationalism, your Honor, I mean, ladies and gentlemen. There's the lack of evidence. Jane hired Robert Glassman two weeks before she spoke to the FBI in 2019. The lawyers like Boies Schiller helped set up the Epstein victims fund
Menninger: Then there's the manipulation piece. We'll go through the stories of each witness. The stories have changed. Carolyn had a lawyer in 2008, a story about Epstein and Sarah Kellen who she also sued without mentioning Ghislaine Maxwell.
Menninger: Where are your boots that you say they bought you? We had to ask those questions. The truth was manipulated over time. They've made Ghislaine Maxwell to be Cruela DeVille and the Devil Wears Prada all rolled up in to one.
Menninger: The pilot told you Jane was a fully growth, mature woman. Ghislaine didn't entire her to travel. The US said she was "sometimes in the room when it happened." But Jane said she wasn't sure.
Menninger: Jane said she went to Epstein's house every week. But no one took the stand to say she spent time with Ghislaine. Who are these relatives? Annie's mom came; she said she never spoke to Maxwell.
Menninger: Larry the pilot said Jane was fully mature. No pilot testified he saw Carolyn, or Kate, or Annie. There was not culture of silence, you just got the sound of silence. One got a two time burglar with an ax to grind.
Menninger: They said you'd learn Ghislaine was in the room. But Jane can't remember. And there's no motive. They say a happy, educated woman in her 30s would end her career as a facilitator of sexual abuse - but where's the evidence? Epstein was a manipulator
Menninger: Do you know Ghislaine's life style before Epstein, and after? Maybe it was Jeffrey who needed Ghislaine and her connection, and not the other way around.
Menninger: I want to talk about Jane's age. Her father died at 13 - tragic. But she's applying to go to an arts camp that cost $4000 per person. They didn't even apply for financial aid.
Menninger: We see her travel records, this person who says he was indigent - she traveled to Italy. There's a flight I'll show you [slides withheld from press and public] that shows Jane flew at earliest at 16.
Menninger: Jane got her dates wrong, in a case that's about dates, and about travel. This homeless Jane, traveling all over. She says she sang for Mike Wallace's 80th birthday. But she was 17 by then. She got it wrong.
Menninger: The government just said, We'll assume your first time to New York wasn't the Lion King data. Doctor Loftus said this is unlikely, this unremembering.
Menninger: She talked about group sexualized massages. You have a right to evidence. She gave names - none of these women called the police. They said "Sophie," blonde and pretty, married a race car driving. She said Eva joined in with Sophie
Menninger: She walks about Emmy and Michelle. They now say it could be any old Michelle. Jane said it's the Michelle who hung out with Emmy. Michelle said, I'm a housewife. This is a pattern of Jane picking names out of people she met in Epstein's world
Menninger: She told you she met Donald Trump. But she has her time frame wrong. She's trying to insert Ghislaine into the story after the fact. Her lawyer Glassman told her it would help get money.
Menninger: She says she was in a movie called Five Monkeys. But there is no movie called 5 Monkeys. There is a movie called 12 Monkeys. And she claimed that hand holding was sexual abuse. She went to New York mostly to see her sister. Ghislaine was nowhere around
Menninger: There is no mention of Ghislaine Maxwell in Annie's diaries. Epstein was not in the room when she got the massage. She told the compensation fund that her breasts were gropes. She got $1.5 million. What is the evidence of what Ghislaine Maxwell knew?
Menninger: If we had Annie's journals we might know. But we don't, so we don't. Maybe she just got it wrong. By a year. Meaning she's 17, when she went there. When did she got to Thailand? The records say she was 18, through Dusseldorf. Her mother was there.
Menninger: Now let's talk about the boots. She said the government didn't ask for them in 2006. You'll have the boots with you back in the deliberation room, you'll see how worn they are.
Menninger: Where is the chef from the ranch? Where are her diaries? What you got is a photograph of the front and back of a diary, and few pages. But not the rest. Ms. Farmer told you she met Boies Schiller when she was going to be a witness in Roberts' case
Menninger: Kate filled out a U visa application for exceptional people. She said she is exceptional - she's a music therapist. She says she's using a pseudonym because of her child. But she used her own name in court after Epstein's death.
Menninger: Kate claims she met Ghislaine Maxwell in London, when she was younger than 17. The said "the house with the red door," look at it, across from the Nag's Head Pub. [Slide withheld from Press and public]
Menninger: Let's talk about Carolyn. She says she saw a photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell pregnant. But no one else saw this. Money. The first time Maxwell is accused of anything by Carolyn was during the compensation process.
Menninger: Let's talk about Shawn, her ex boyfriend, with his felony convictions. Carolyn tried to minimize her drug abuse. But Shawn told you they were abusing marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs. They shared a phone, calls from Kellen and Epstein
Menninger: Let's talk about Dr Rocchio, the ultimate victim apologist. She's not trained to question accusers accounts. There was no evidence Ghislaine Maxwell groomed anyone. Kate was dating a man Maxwell's age.
Menninger: The government has no basis to say that Ghislaine Maxwell wrote the document about her relationship with Epstein, told in the third person. There's no proof.
Menninger: And why didn't Virginia Roberts testify? If she could corroborate what Carolyn told you, don't you think she would have? Why would a proper Oxford educated woman do this?
Menninger: Larry the pilot said sure he signed a Non Disclosure Agreement, people don't want talk about famous people flying on the plane, like Bill Clinton and John Glenn...
Menninger: Epstein put his helicopter in the name of Air Ghislaine. That would correspond to the $7 million. Rich people do that. Epstein was generous. He was building a lodge at Interlochen that was handicapped accessible.
Menninger: Certainly no one from JP Morgan told you what the money was for...
Judge Nathan: Ms. Menninger, we're just going to take a real quick stretch break.
[Ghislaine Maxwell stands up, stretches, sits down]
Menninger: Mr. Alessi told you when women other than Ghislaine visited, he would take her photo down --
Oops, I got ahead of myself [Menninger say] Check out the flight logs for yourself.
[Press and public can't, and challenge not docketed documentcloud.org/documents/2116…
Menninger: Mr. Alessi was not doing a good job. Does being a tough boss make you an enforcer of a code of silence? He doesn't really authenticate the black address book. Where are the other staff?
Menninger: Mr. Alessi told you a story that was not true. That he broke in to help someone. But it was to steal a gun. He broke in twice. You can't trust this man's word.
Menninger: Memory doesn't work like a tape recorder, that you could rewind and just hit play. None of these interviews were recorded. They all had a plan to get money.
Menninger: The government would ask again and again, are you sure there was no sexual abuse in New Mexico? Doctor Dubin was solid on what she did not have the group sex alleged.
Menninger: Counts 2 and 4 rely on Jane entirely. If you don't believe her, drop the counts Count 6 relies on Carolyn. If you don't believe her, drop the count.
Menninger: Ghislaine is being tried here for being with Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe it was the bigger mistake of her life. But it is not a crime. Acquit her.
Judge Nathan: Let's take a break.
AUSA: We want a curative instruction. Ms. Menninger read from an email that was precluded.
Judge Nathan: The curative instruction you are asking for is in the charge.
by ti-amie Part 3 Government Rebuttal Summation
OK - in US v. #GhislaineMaxwell, now AUSA Maurene Comey's rebuttal summation - with all slides and demonstratives withheld from Press and public. Inner City Press challenged documentcloud.org/documents/2116… and will live tweet Comey's rebuttal, thread below
AUSA Comey: Ghislaine Maxwell touched three witnesses breasts. The defense tried to get you to look way through the massive amount of evidence Ms. Moe walked you through this morning [all slides and demonstratives withheld from public and Press]
AUSA Comey: You saw it in this exhibit [withheld] - who needs that many massages? She was in the room, she knew. The $30 million is "we molested kids together" money.
AUSA Comey: People who prey on children do not leave behind documents. The defendant was not walking out of massage rooms and writing a memo, Today I touched Jane's breasts.
AUSA Comey: Look at the flight logs [we'd like it], Epstein flying to New Mexico, then leaving a year later with Ms. Maxwell. Ms. Menninger was trying to mislead you.
AUSA Comey: The defense's own expert Professor Loftus said, Some things you never forget, moments that change your life. Imagine you had to remember Thanksgiving from years ago. Turkey happens every time
AUSA Comey: There is not a shred of evidence that a group of lawyers got together and made up a story about Maxwell. The lawyers got their money before this trial started.
AUSA Comey: Why would the ex-boyfriends come here and lie to you? And Alessia - the defense tried to dirty him up. But he admitted he stole. He has no reason to lie.
AUSA Comey: If they wanted to frame Maxwell they would have put way deeper in. No. They testified for justice. ... The defendant is guilty.
Judge Nathan: Thank you Ms. Comey. I will now read the charge.
I'm not sure if this is a free to the public web site. I know PACER isn't
Note: Inner City Press has put the jury charge on its DocumentCloud, here: documentcloud.org/documents/2116…
by mmmm8 "Victim apologist" is a new one.
by ti-amie Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
3h
Replying to
@innercitypress
Judge Nathan took to the bench at 10:10 am and said, I've gotten a note. The jury wants the transcripts of the testimony of Jane, Annie and Carolyn.
It will be assembled and sent to them via the Court Security Officer, who's been sworn in for this function.
by ti-amie
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
After the proceedings regarding this note, Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim appeared to be smiling ear to ear in a conversation with someone in the front of the gallery.
Maxwell also appeared to be more upbeat than when she entered.
by
ti-amie A slightly different perspective from @innercitypress
Now 4:06 pm - Judge Nathan: I have received a note. The jurors say they want to end today at 5 pm, deliberate tomorrow from 9 to 4:30 & have lunch at noon. [And if not decision by the end of Dec 22?] Judge Nathan: It is possible for them to deliberate on Thursday
Maxwell's lawyer Sternheim: Will you offer then Thursday, so they can make arrangement? Judge Nathan: We could tell them that. [If memory serves, the defense did not want the deliberations to take place under the deadline of Christmas. Now, they seem to like it
Update of 4:30 pm - Jury has another note / question: Can we consider Annie's testimony conspiracy to commit a crime in Counts 1 and 3? AUSA: Say yes.
Maxwell's lawyer: If someone asks, can I drive, you could answer, Yes but within the speed limit. Judge Nathan: I'm going to answer, Yes you may. Please been back at 4:55 so we can let the jurors go at 5 pm.
http://www.innercitypress.com/sdnytrial ... 22121.html
by ti-amie Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
8m
OK - in US v. #GhislaineMaxwell jury deliberation, Judge Nathan just took the bench after 6+ hours. She says she will send in a note asking the jurors if they want to come in and deliberate more tomorrow Dec 23. Inner City Press will live tweet - thread below
Ghislaine Maxwell has been brought out to the courtroom and is sitting at the defense table. Her official lawyer Bobbi Sternheim is back speaking to the front row of the gallery - where Leah Saffian is
Jury has a note: "May we please have the following testimonies in a binder: Kate. Jane ["something else written next to it," Judge Nathan says, "I don't know if they are asking for another copy"]
Judge Nathan says something has been crossed out on the note. Lawyers laugh.
Judge Nathan: I guess they are asking for another copy [of Jane]. Also, they want Kate & Juan" [Alessi]
Judge Nathan: I believe the response [about deliberating tomorrow Dec 23] is coming
Judge Nathan: The response [on deliberating tomorrow] is No, thank you.
[So it will break for four days - caused by earlier three day break? Stories later.]
Judge Nathan: So I'll see everyone at 4:25 [the jury wants to leave at 4:30, and not deliberate tomorrow]
by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5m
Remember when jurors wanted transcripts of every Ghislaine Maxwell accuser BUT “Kate”?
Now, they want the testimony of “Kate” and Juan [Alessi, presumably].
They also want “Jane’s” transcript again—this time, in a three-ring binder.
by Fastbackss Just now catching up on this, since I was out of town for the last 2 pages. Are they deliberating this week?
by
ti-amie Fastbackss wrote: ↑Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:52 pm
Just now catching up on this, since I was out of town for the last 2 pages. Are they deliberating this week?
Yes. I'm behind on updating this thread.
by ti-amie
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
The #MaxwellTrial jury question that Judge Nathan called incomprehensible was, If we find that the defendant aided in the transportation of Jane's return flight from NM, but not her flight TO NM... can we find her guilty of the 2d element of Count 4? 1/x
by
Fastbackss ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Dec 28, 2021 6:13 pm
Fastbackss wrote: ↑Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:52 pm
Just now catching up on this, since I was out of town for the last 2 pages. Are they deliberating this week?
Yes. I'm behind on updating this thread.
I didn't mean for pressure; I was just curious. Thank you!
by ti-amie JMHO
Either they're fighting with an idiot or they're being super careful.
by ti-amie
Aaron Parnas
@AaronParnas
Replying to @KlasfeldReports
They are recreating the entire trial in that jury room. I actually don’t think there’s an issue with a holdout, I think they are just being very methodical.
by
Owendonovan ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Dec 28, 2021 6:52 pm
JMHO
Either they're fighting with an idiot or they're being super careful.
They're probably being super careful because of an idiot.
by ti-amie Count 2 was based on the testimony of the "weakest link" so to speak. I think that's the one they said couldn't be counted as trafficking.
by ti-amie Ben Wieder @benbwieder
The sixth count, sex trafficking of a minor, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison
by dryrunguy I assume Maxwell and her team have ceased laughing with giddy gleefulness.
Let her rot.
by Fastbackss Not sure how to do this like Ti-Amie does but this is an interesting thread (maybe click the read full conversation on Twitter)
by ti-amie Thanks Fastbackss. Most of the legal commentary post conviction has been about what Mr. Honig is talking about in his posts. I keep going back to her arrogant response to Judge Nathan when she asked her if she wanted to testify. I'm paraphrasing but she basically said "you people haven't proven anything so there's no need for me to testify". If the jury had heard that I doubt it would've taken six days of deliberation to come back with their verdict.
Is she daring someone to come after her or asking someone to come after her if she doesn't flip. She doesn't seem like the type to go into witsec so I agree with Honig that "it depends". I mean what does she get other than witness protection? And we know the folks she's assumedly protecting have a long reach.
That's just my non professional legal opinion.
by ti-amie First Dershowitz now this person. And, to my knowledge, no one has publicly been called on the carpet.
by
skatingfan ti-amie wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:54 pm
First Dershowitz now this person. And, to my knowledge, no one has publicly been called on the carpet.
The criticism that I've heard about the BBC for the past few years - since the Brexit debate began in earnest leading up the referendum - is that they try too hard to get both sides on the air. This seems like a perfect example of when trying to do so - let's let the relative of convicted sex trafficker on the air to defend their relative - goes too far.
by Fastbackss Well stated - and if the juror didn't lie, then it was a poor voir dire effort from Maxwell's lawyers
by dryrunguy The original report I read indicated all of the jurors were required to complete a questionnaire. It included a question about whether or not you had been sexually abused or assaulted in the past (something to that effect).
The juror in question stated he/she "flew through" the questionnaire and did not remember any such question.
So if the juror did not answer that question, assuming it really WAS there, then that was an oversight. Someone should have caught it. If the juror answered the question with a "no", then that would technically constitute, at worst, a lie, or at best, a fairly egregious error.
by mmmm8 Not to contradict the above at all, but if what is legally considered "sexual assault" (i.e. includes groping) would be enough reason to dismiss, good luck finding any women (or even men) appropriate to serve on juries in cases like these.
by
ti-amie Epstein case: ex-model agent Jean-Luc Brunel found dead in prison
The Frenchman was indicted for "rape of a minor" and placed under the status of assisted witness for "trafficking in human beings". According to our information, the septuagenarian was found hanged last night.
By Zoe Lauwereys ,
Jérémie Pham-Lê and
Nicolas Jacquard
February 19, 2022 at 11:43 am , modified on February 19, 2022 at 2:58 pm
Former modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was found dead in custody, sources close to the case say. The 74-year-old Frenchman, alleged tout of young girls for the benefit of Jeffrey Epstein , the now deceased American billionaire, was indicted in December 2020 for "rape of minors" and "sexual harassment".
The suspect had also been placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness for acts of "aggravated human trafficking to the detriment of minor victims for the purpose of sexual exploitation".
According to our information, the septuagenarian was found dead by hanging last night in his cell in the Paris prison of Health. He was found around 1 am during the night patrol. He could not be revived, said a prison source.
The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed that Jean-Brunel had been found dead and indicated that an investigation into the causes of death had been opened, entrusted to the 3rd judicial police district. His death means the extinction of public action in this case, unless other people were to be involved.
“According to the first elements available to us, no breach was noted on the side of the agents who were on duty that night”, explains Erwan Saoudi, delegate of the prison FO union for Ile-de-France. The union wants proof that the intervention occurred around one o'clock, and that Brunel's body was not found in the early morning. “This shows that this inmate was determined to take action. All rounds have been completed. On average, there are four to six in the night at the level of the vulnerable people district (QPV), the one where Brunel was imprisoned. He thing to commit his gesture between two rounds. First aid couldn't do anything. It is certain that he was then alone in the cell. »
Jean-Luc Brunel did not benefit from an emergency protection unit (Cprou). These cells specially designed to prevent the risk of suicide, where the detainee is dressed in paper clothes and tearable sheets, are reserved for detainees in crisis whose suicide risk is imminent.
“His distress was that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system on which it would be time to question himself”, estimate his lawyers Me Mathias Chichportich, Me Marianne Abgrall and Me Christophe Ingrain. “Jean-Luc Brunel has never ceased to proclaim his innocence. He multiplied his efforts to prove it. A judge released him a few months ago and then he was reincarcerated in appalling conditions. His decision was not guided by guilt but by a deep sense of injustice. »
https://www-leparisien-fr.translate.goo ... to=op,wapp
Translated from the French by Google.
by ti-amie Posting this because of the picture. Two of the three people in it are now deceased.
by Fastbackss Oh boy - some social media feeds will be full of tin foil today.
Edit - opened feed and it's already polluted. Guess I will stay off it for a few days
by ponchi101 Note to Ghislaine: put everything in writing NOW. Hand over to lawyers, with instructions that if something happens to you, it gets sent to the NYT, Wash Post, Le Figaro, Der Spiegel and the BBC (plus any other outlet). Make this public.
Also. Sleep during the day, and read books at night.
by dryrunguy 20 years. $750K fine. Maxwell tried to blame her crimes on Epstein. Judge Nathan collected her very quickly on that front.
by ti-amie She should've gotten life with no parole.
