Defense set to make case Maxwell is taking fall for Epstein

NEW YORK – A New York City assemblage has heard four women item accusations that they were teens erstwhile they became victims of a sex-abuse strategy devised by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Starting Thursday, the British socialite's attorneys are expected to marque their lawsuit that Maxwell isn't the 1 to blame.

Maxwell's proceedings volition resume with the defence calling its ain witnesses successful national tribunal successful Manhattan. The government's lawsuit lasted lone 2 weeks and the defence lawsuit could past conscionable 2 days. Both sides streamlined their witnesser lists without revealing why, making the proceedings extremity good abbreviated of an archetypal six-week estimate.

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The commencement of the defence lawsuit has already sparked the accustomed speculation astir whether the high-profile suspect volition instrumentality the witnesser basal successful her ain defence — a gamble that is astir ne'er taken. Either way, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan volition person to person nonstop confirmation from Maxwell astir her determination earlier the defence tin rest.

Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not blameworthy to charges she acted arsenic Epstein’s main enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for him to maltreatment during intersexual massages.

Maxwell was erstwhile Epstein’s woman earlier becoming a trusted employee. Witnesses testified the brace exploited them betwixt 1994 to 2004 astatine Epstein’s homes, including an property successful Palm Beach, Florida; his posh Manhattan townhouse; and a Santa Fe, New Mexico, ranch.

The defence has insisted that Maxwell is being made a scapegoat for alleged enactment crimes by Epstein, who killed himself successful jailhouse successful 2019. Her lawyers person sought to amusement that the accusers exaggerated her engagement astatine the behest of lawyers seeking payouts for the women from civilian claims against the Epstein estate.

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