Ghislaine Maxwell graphic indictment outlines how Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam tried to ‘normalise’ sexual abuse
Ghislaine Maxwell would recruit underage ‘massage girls’, strip off to ‘groom’ them for Jeffrey Epstein, then join the abuse, graphic charges allege.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes are laid out in unsparing, vivid detail across a 17-page indictment.
Its opening paragraph sums up the case, claiming that from at least 1994 to at least 1997 Ms Maxwell “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.
“The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,” the indictment says.
GROOMING METHODS: Shopping, undressing, ‘normalising abuse’
The indictment lays out the “means and methods” by which Ms Maxwell allegedly groomed “multiple minor girls” to be abused by Epstein.
First, she would “befriend” some of the victims before they were abused: asking them about their lives, their education and their families. Both Ms Maxwell and Epstein would “spend time building friendships” with them, taking them to the cinema or shopping.
“Having developed a rapport with a victim,” the indictment alleges, Ms Maxwell would “try to normalise sexual abuse.” She would do this by discussing sexual topics with the underage girls, undressing in front of them or being present when an underage girl was naked.
A crucial tactic was Epstein’s offers to pay for travel or education for some of the underage girls. Ms Maxwell, the indictment alleges, encouraged them to accept the offers. As a consequence, “victims were made to feel indebted and believed that Maxwell and Epstein were trying to help them”.
Often, Ms Maxwell was present “during minor victims’ interactions with Epstein, including interactions where the minor victim was undressed or that involved sex acts with Epstein”, the indictment claims. Having an adult woman there “helped put the victims at ease”.
The indictment alleges Ms Maxwell would massage Epstein in front of underage girls, and encourage the girls to massage him themselves — “including sexualised massages during which a minor victim would be fully or partially nude”. Many of these massages, the indictment said, “resulted in Epstein sexually abusing the minor victims”. On some occasions, Ms Maxwell was allegedly present for and took part in the sexual abuse. Some of these instances took place “in the context of massages which developed into sexual encounters”.
Epstein’s abuse took the form, “among other things”, of touching the victims’ breasts and genitals, using a vibrator on them, instructing them to touch him while he masturbated and directing them to touch his genitals.
MONEY: 15 bank accounts containing millions
According to the US authorities’ detention memo, filed at court to resist any application for bail, Ms Maxwell had “an extraordinary incentive to flee” because of her ready access to large amounts of money and extensive international connections. The document said that the FBI had identified 15 bank accounts linked to Ms Maxwell since 2016 and was still looking for others.
It added: “During that period the total balances of those accounts have ranged from a total of hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than $US 20 million. During the same period the defendant engaged in transfers between her accounts of hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.”
Large amounts of money were moved in 2019, including transfers of $US 500,000 in March 2019 and $US300,000 in July 2019. Last year she had a number of foreign bank accounts with balances totalling more than dollars 1 million. Between 2007 and 2011 amounts of up to dollars 20 million were transferred to her from accounts linked to Epstein then moved again into other accounts held by an alleged accomplice.
The detention memo added that since the indictment against Epstein was unsealed in July 2019, Ms Maxwell “stopped appearing in public entirely” and had been “hiding out in locations in New England”. The document continues: “It appears she made intentional efforts to avoid detection including moving locations at least twice.”
Ms Maxwell was also alleged to have changed her phone number — registering it under the name G Max — and email address. She ordered packages for delivery under a false name. In December last year she made the cash purchase of a 63-hectare property in Bradford “through a carefully anonymised LLC (limited liability company)”.
LOCATIONS: New York, Palm Beach, Santa Fe, London
The indictment names four places where victims were “groomed and/or abused”, although it does not generally specify what happened where.
The first was a seven-storey house on the Upper East Side of New York City owned by Epstein. It had previously housed a well-known private school.
The circumstances in which Epstein came to own the house are somewhat mysterious. It was previously owned by Leslie Wexner, a billionaire mentor of Epstein, although he never lived there. He transferred the house to Epstein’s ownership, free of charge, in about 1996. In 2011 its ownership was transferred from a trust controlled by Mr Wexner and Epstein to a company in the US Virgin Islands controlled by Epstein. Last year the property was said to be worth $US56 million.
Guests have described leopard print chairs, a sculpture of a naked African warrior in double life size and a picture of a woman holding an opium pipe while caressing a lion. There were photos on the walls of Bill Clinton, Woody Allen and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
The second was Epstein’s house at Palm Beach in southern Florida. He bought the property for $US 2.5 million in 1990. A search of the property after Epstein’s arrest in 2008 for procuring an underage girl for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute found framed nude photos, massage tables, bathroom soap shaped like genitalia and a fully equipped dentist’s chair.
The third property was his ranch in Santa Fe, in New Mexico. On the 4050-hectare site is a 26,700 sq ft house, an aeroplane hangar and a landing strip. It was previously owned by Bruce King, a governor of the state.
The fourth was Ms Maxwell’s home in London. At one stage she owned a mews house in Belgravia but it is unclear whether this is the property referred to in the indictment.
VICTIM ONE: Recruited at age 14
Three victims’ experiences are described in the indictment, although none of them is named.
The first victim allegedly met Ms Maxwell when she was about 14. During multiple interactions at Epstein’s various homes, the indictment alleges, Ms Maxwell “groomed Minor Victim-1 to engage in sexual acts with Epstein through multiple means”.
Ms Maxwell and Epstein allegedly took her to the cinema and on shopping trips. Ms Maxwell then began undressing in front of her, and was allegedly present when the girl undressed in front of Epstein. This, the prosecutors say, was an attempt to “normalise inappropriate and abusive conduct”.
Within a year Epstein began sexually abusing the girl. Ms Maxwell was sometimes present and involved in the abuse, the indictment claims. “In particular,” the document alleges, Ms Maxwell “involved Minor Victim-1 in group sexualised massages of Epstein,” during which “[Ms] Maxwell and/or Minor Victim-1 would engage in sex acts with Epstein.” The alleged abuse took place at Epstein’s properties in New York and Florida.
VICTIM TWO: Flown to New Mexico for Epstein
The second girl met Ms Maxwell at least once in or around 1996 at Epstein’s property in New Mexico. At the time she was under 18. The girl “had flown into New Mexico from out of state at Epstein’s invitation for the purpose of being groomed for and/or subjected to acts of sexual abuse”.
Ms Maxwell and Epstein took her to the cinema, and Ms Maxwell took her shopping. Ms Maxwell asked her about her school, classes and family, before allegedly beginning “her efforts to groom” the girl by, “among other things, providing an unsolicited massage to Minor Victim-2, during which Minor Victim-2 was topless”. Ms Maxwell is also alleged to have encouraged the girl to massage Epstein.
VICTIM THREE: Groomed and befriended in London
Ms Maxwell “groomed and befriended” the third underage girl in London between approximately 1994 and 1995, “during a period of time in which Maxwell knew that Minor Victim-3 was under the age of 18”. Ms Maxwell then allegedly introduced her to Epstein and arranged “multiple interactions” between them. During those interactions, Maxwell encouraged the girl to massage Epstein “knowing”, the indictment says, “that Epstein would engage in sex acts with Minor Victim-3 during those massages”.
The girl did so, and he sexually abused her, the indictment claims.
PERJURY: ‘False testimony’
In April 2016 Ms Maxwell faced questions under oath in a deposition as part of a civil lawsuit. Asked whether Epstein had “a scheme to recruit underage girls for sexual massages”, she replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Asked to list all the people under the age of 18 that she interacted with at any of his properties, she replied: “I’m not aware of anybody that I interacted with, other than obviously [the person who had brought the lawsuit] who was 17 at this point.”
In addition, Ms Maxwell claimed that she did not recall whether Epstein possessed sex toys and said that she “wasn’t aware” that Epstein was “having sexual activities with anyone when I was with him other than myself”.
She testified that she had “not given anyone a massage”, and specifically that she “never gave” the second victim in this indictment a massage. The indictment says that these statements were instances of “false testimony”.
The Times
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