­Ghislaine Maxwell groomed me for sex too: second witness

A woman says Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her for sex with Jeffrey Epstein, the second person alleging abuse to take the stand.

A sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell in a New York court. Picture: AFP

A woman has testified that ­Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her to engage in sexual activity with Jeffrey Epstein, the second of four women alleging abuse to take the stand in the British socialite’s sex trafficking trial.

Speaking under the pseudonym “Kate”, the witness said Ms Maxwell would co-ordinate her sexual encounters with Epstein, inviting her over and escorting to her to massage rooms to meet the late financier.

Ms Maxwell, 59, who has pleaded not guilty to six counts of enticing and transporting minors for sex, is accused of grooming underage girls to be exploited by her long-time partner Epstein, a wealthy American who killed himself in jail two years ago while awaiting trial.

Kate, now 44, said she was introduced to Ms Maxwell by a boyfriend during a trip to Paris in 1994, when she was 17 years old.

“She was very sophisticated and very elegant,” Kate said of Ms Maxwell.

Kate said she gave her phone number to Ms Maxwell, who ­invited her to tea at her London home a few weeks later.

“I felt really special,” Kate said. “I felt that I had found a new connection that could be really meaningful to me. Like somebody wanted me, like somebody wanted to be my friend.”

Ms Maxwell, she said, “told me amazing things about her boyfriend”, that he was a philanthropist and “liked to help young people”. “She said that he was going to love me,” she said.

A few weeks later, Ms Maxwell invited Kate to meet Epstein at her London home, she said.

Kate said she was asked by Ms Maxwell to “give his feet a little squeeze” and rub his shoulders.

A few weeks later, Kate was ­invited back to Ms Maxwell’s home to give Epstein a massage. She said Epstein disrobed and Ms Maxwell left the room.

The massage turned into a sex act, Kate said, after which Ms Maxwell asked: “How did it go? Did you have fun? Was it good?” “She seemed very excited and happy,” Kate said.

Kate’s testimony was not ­allowed to include details of sex acts with Epstein because she was 17 at the time, the age of consent in Britain. But prosecutors are using her testimony to illustrate a pattern of grooming girls.

Kate described an instance when the socialite gave her a schoolgirl outfit and told her to serve Epstein tea. “I didn’t know how to say no,” she said.

Kate also said Ms Maxwell asked her if she knew anyone else who might be able to engage in sexual acts with Epstein. “You know what he likes – cute, young, pretty, like you,” Kate quoted Ms Maxwell as saying. Kate said she never recruited other girls.

She continued to see the pair for years, travelling to Epstein’s properties in Palm Beach, New York and the Caribbean.

The witness said she saw photographs of underage girls in the Palm Beach house and saw other girls in person, including one “who seemed a lot younger than me. Very young.”

She said she maintained contact with Epstein into her early 30s. “I did not want to admit what happened to me,” she said. “I was fearful of disengaging because I had witnessed how connected they both were.” Ms Maxwell “seemed to know everybody”, she said. “She told me she was friends with Prince Andrew. Friends with Donald Trump.”

Kate was also asked about her years-long addiction to alcohol, cocaine and sleeping pills.

The defence sought to skewer Kate’s credibility, emphasising her drug use and insisting she was looking to receive government support ­obtaining a special visa in e­xchange for her testimony.

Kate, who is British, said she was not seeking a “U visa” – reserved for victims of abuse – but had at one point inquired about it.

Ms Maxwell, the daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, faces an effective life sentence if convicted.

AFP