Disturbing find in Epstein’s lair as Maxwell dealt legal blow
One of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has revealed what she found in the billionaire’s “sex abuse factory”.
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One of the victims of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has revealed the “sex abuse factory” that was the billionaire’s Caribbean home.
In the new BBC television series House of Maxwell, Juliette Bryant speaks for the first time about how she was tricked onto his island retreat and sexually assaulted by the tycoon.
In the three-part documentary, which airs in the UK from next week, she explains how she felt trapped by the late Epstein and Maxwell, who was convicted of child sex trafficking late last year, on Little St James Island, near Puerto Rico.
South African Ms Bryant is seen in the doco saying: “I was being ordered to his bedroom at least three times a day. By that point there were even more girls. In that time I saw at least 60 girls coming and going, at least.
“I was 20 when I was taken there, so I was lucky, I wasn’t as young as some of the other girls. It was just like a factory, he was running a machine and Ghislaine Maxwell was the one operating it.
“People ask why I went back. No one disobeyed Epstein. Before I was sent home he took me to his office and he told me a woman had accused him of rape and he planted drugs in her apartment and had her sent to prison.
“Then he said he had my family’s name on a list, so I just did as I was told because I was petrified of him, of who he was.
“I knew that crossing him would be a very, very bad idea.”
In one chilling recollection, Ms Bryant told of “a very disturbing picture” in Epstein’s house.
“Ghislaine was running the girls and she would tell us when we had to go to his bedroom. You couldn’t say no, there was just no option.
“You didn’t want to make them angry, it would have been very scary making them angry. No one ever tried to stand up against them.
“His bedroom was pitch dark and ice cold. I just checked out of my body and just let him do what he wanted because I didn’t know what else to do.
“I tried to escape this room in my mind. I just tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. Things happened there that scared me so deeply I can’t even talk about them.
“He fed off the terror, there was something about the energy of a girl being scared that he liked.
“The little chalet I was made to stay in when I first got there had this very weird artwork on the wall. It was a naked girl and there was a big walrus, it looked like the walrus was trying to rape her.
“It was a very disturbing picture. I’ve never seen a picture like that. He had a lot of weird stuff around his house, there were pictures of naked girls everywhere, and there was a lot of naked pictures of Ghislaine around too.”
It comes amid a fresh legal blow for Maxwell after her request for a new trial was denied on Friday by a federal judge in New York.
Maxwell’s lawyers filed for a retrial in January after juror Scotty David — identified by his first and middle names — told media outlets he had persuaded fellow panellists to convict the 60-year-old by recalling his own experiences as a sex abuse victim, a fact he did not reveal during jury selection.
Maxwell’s sentence, which will be decided on June 28, could see her spend the rest of her life in prison.
Two of Epstein’s victims, identified as “Jane” and “Carolyn,” testified in Maxwell’s trial that they were as young as 14 when she began grooming them and arranging for them to give massages to Epstein that ended in sexual activity.
Scotty David, referred to as Juror 50 in court filings, said in interviews that he had helped convince jurors who were doubting the accounts of “Jane” and “Carolyn” by telling them that he did not remember every single detail of the abuse he had received.
Maxwell’s lawyers had argued that Juror 50s omission of his prior sexual assault could have biased the jury.
He had said the omission occurred because he “flew through” the questionnaire.
‘BOMBSHELL REVELATION’
Judge Alison Nathan quizzed Juror 50 under oath on March 8 about the error. In her ruling Friday, she said Juror 50s “failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate.” “The Court further concludes that Juror 50 harboured no bias toward the Defendant and could serve as a fair and impartial juror,” Nathan added.
“The Defendant’s motion for a new trial … is therefore denied,” she concluded. Earlier on Friday, Maxwell’s lawyers had flagged for the judge a new interview with Juror 50 that is set to premiere as part of a TV special on the “Paramount Plus” streaming platform.
A trailer for the four-part series entitled “Ghislaine – Partner in Crime” promises a “bombshell revelation” from Juror 50, in “his only in-depth interview.” Maxwell’s lawyers said in their letter that they had not yet had access to the footage, and that they had “learned that Paramount is holding off airing the series pending the Court’s ruling concerning Juror 50.”
THE ‘KEY’ TO EPSTEIN
Maxwell’s conviction capped a remarkable fall from grace.
The Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, she grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty.
Her circle included Britain’s Prince Andrew, former US president and real estate baron Donald Trump and the Clinton family.
Prosecutors in her trial said Maxwell was “the key” to Epstein’s scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them.
Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting his own sex crimes trial in New York.
In February, Prince Andrew settled a sexual abuse lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre, who said she had been trafficked to the royal by Epstein and Maxwell.
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