Two years after Jeffrey Epstein's suicide behind bars, a jury has been picked in New York City for Ghislaine Maxwell's trial. Video / AP
Two years after Jeffrey Epstein's suicide behind bars, a jury was selected Monday in New York City to determine a central question in the long-running sex trafficking case: Was his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's puppet or accomplice?
Twelve jurors and six alternates will hear Maxwell's case, starting with opening statements expected later in the day. They were picked from a pool of 40 to 60 potential jurors who made it through initial questioning.
Maxwell — who once dated the financier — is accused of acting as Epstein's chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for him to abuse. The charges against her stem from the allegations of four women who say she and Epstein victimised them as teens from 1994 to 2004.
News agencies reported Sarah Ransome, one of several women who have accused Epstein and Maxwell of abuse, was seen arriving at the courthouse.
Sarah Ransome, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, arrives to the courthouse for the start of Maxwell's trial in New York. Photo / John Minchillo, AP
Ransome, who was born in South Africa to wealthy British parents, claimed she tried to escape Epstein's "paedophile island" through shark-invested waters after being raped three times in one day, however she will not be testifying.
"I never thought this day would come," she told reporters.
Sarah Ransome alleges she had to swim to safety from an island where she was being kept by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo / John Minchillo, AP
Prosecutors say there's evidence Maxwell knew that the victims, including a 14-year-old, were below the age of consent and that she arranged travel for some between Epstein's homes, including his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, his posh Manhattan townhouse and at other residences in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and London.
Jeffrey Epstein died in custody in August, 2019, before he could be tried. Photo / New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File
Epstein killed himself at a Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. Authorities charged Maxwell in July 2020, arresting her after tracking her to a $1 million New Hampshire estate where she had been holed up during the coronavirus pandemic.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty and vehemently denies wrongdoing. The 59-year-old British socialite, jailed in Brooklyn since her arrest, has called the claims against her "absolute rubbish".
A courtroom sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell entering the courtroom escorted by US Marshalls at the start of her trial. Illustration / Elizabeth Williams, AP
Maxwell's lawyers and family say she was Epstein's pawn, now paying "a blood price" to satisfy public desire to see someone held accountable for his crimes. The wealthy, Oxford-educated Maxwell is the daughter of British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, who died in 1991 after falling off his yacht — named the Lady Ghislaine — near the Canary Islands.
Robert Maxwell, whose holdings at the time included the New York Daily News, was facing allegations that he had illegally looted his businesses' pension funds. Ghislaine Maxwell holds US, British and French citizenships and was repeatedly denied bail in the run-up to her trial. - AP
