Ghislaine Maxwell - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

Epstein invoked 5th Amendment right to silence 600 times in Virginia Giuffre case

THE late financier Jeffrey Epstein invoked his constitutional right against incriminating himself about 600 times in testimony for a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual abuse. Epstein's refusal to answer questions in Giuffre's lawsuit against his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was disclosed in a filing on Friday in Manhattan federal court, as part of a trove of documents being unsealed this month from the civil defamation case, which settled in 2017. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives people the right not to incriminate themselves. In the September 2016 filing, Giuffre's lawyers said Epstein routinely…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

No new trial for Ghislaine Maxwell despite juror’s false statement

WORLD

LUC COHEN GHISLAINE Maxwell lost her bid to overturn her U.S. sex trafficking conviction, even after a juror acknowledged having falsely stated before the trial that he had not been sexually abused. U.S. Circuit Judge Alison Nathan said the juror, a man known in court papers as Juror 50, testified truthfully at a hearing last month after Maxwell's lawyers said his false answers on a pretrial questionnaire justified granting a new trial. "His failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate," Nathan wrote. "The court further concludes that Juror 50…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Key moments from the first week of Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex abuse trial

WORLD

LUC COHEN GHISLAINE Maxwell's sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court began this week. Prosecutors have accused the British socialite of grooming teenage girls for abuse by now-deceased investor Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty. Here are five key moments from the first week of trial: - In her opening statement, prosecutor Lara Pomerantz called Maxwell a predator who "preyed on vulnerable young girls, manipulated them, and served them up to be sexually abused." - Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim countered that Maxwell was being scapegoated since Epstein is no longer alive. "The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are for things…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Maxwell’s lawyers challenge ex-Epstein employee’s account of meeting accuser

WORLD

GHISLAINE Maxwell's defense attorneys on Friday questioned a former Jeffrey Epstein employee about when he met a woman who testified earlier this week that the British socialite set her up for abuse by Epstein starting when she was 14 in 1994. Juan Alessi, who worked full-time at Epstein's Palm Beach estate from 1991 to 2002, said at Maxwell's sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court that he saw two girls who appeared underage spend time with Epstein and Maxwell. He said one of those girls was Jane, the woman who testified this week. Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghislaine Maxwell was ‘lady of the house’, ex-Epstein employee testifies

WORLD

KAREN FREIFELD and LUC COHEN GHISLAINE Maxwell was the "lady of the house" at now-deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach estate, a former house manager testified at the British socialite's sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court on Thursday. Juan Alessi, who worked full-time for Epstein from 1991 to 2002, said Maxwell was with Epstein "95% of the time" he was at the property. Maxwell, whom he called "the girlfriend of Mr Epstein," primarily supervised him and advised him not to look the globetrotting financier in the eye, Alessi, 71, testified. "Jeffrey doesn't like to be looked at in his…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer seeks to undermine accuser’s account of abuse

WORLD

LUC COHEN A lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell on Wednesday sought to cast doubt on the account of a woman who said the British socialite set her up for sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein starting when she was 14 and took part in some encounters. The woman, known by the pseudonym Jane, first took the stand for the government on Tuesday at Maxwell's sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court. She is the first of four women expected to testify that Maxwell "groomed" them for abuse by Epstein when they were teenagers. Maxwell attorney Bobbi Sternheim indicated in her opening statement…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Accuser says Ghislaine Maxwell watched her have sexual contact with Jeffrey Epstein

WORLD

LUC COHEN A woman testified at Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal trial on Tuesday that she had sexual contact with Jeffrey Epstein multiple times when she was 14 years old, sometimes with Maxwell in the room looking on after helping to bring her into the late financier's orbit. The testimony from the woman, known by the pseudonym Jane, came on the second day of Maxwell's sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court. Maxwell, 59, faces sex trafficking and other charges for allegedly recruiting and grooming Jane and three other underage girls for deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghislaine Maxwell says Cosby’s freedom justifies hers

WORLD

JONATHAN STEMPEL LAWYERS for Ghislaine Maxwell said the overturning of Bill Cosby's 2018 sexual assault conviction justifies throwing out sex trafficking and other charges stemming from her relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Cosby, 83, was released from prison on Wednesday after Pennsylvania's Supreme Court said a prosecutor's 2005 agreement not to charge him with drugging and assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand meant the actor and comedian should not have been charged a decade later. In a Friday letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, Maxwell's lawyers said the British socialite's case was similar to Cosby's…