Ghislaine Maxwell ‘had to find three girls a day for Epstein’s pleasure’

Annie Farmer, who has waived anonymity, says she was assaulted at Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch when she was just 16.

Annie Farmer oustide court in New York last year.

Ghislaine Maxwell helped to procure up to three girls a day for Jeffrey Epstein’s “sexual pleasure”, an alleged victim claims in extraordinary testimony that is likely to form a key plank of the criminal case against the British socialite.

Annie Farmer says Ms Maxwell ordered her to strip naked at the pedophile financier’s remote American ranch before groping her breasts when she was 16.

Ms Farmer claimed the couple “lavished her with gifts” and offered to further her studies as part of a strategy to snare her in their “organised sex-trafficking ring”.

The revelations emerged at the weekend after Ms Maxwell, 58, was denied bail by a judge in New York and ordered to spend the next year on remand at one of America’s worst jails.

Annie Farmer, with sister Maria, right, says she was abused at Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico. Picture: Courtesy of Netflix

She is due to go on trial in July 2021 on child sex-trafficking and perjury charges, and faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Ms Maxwell “vigorously” denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Ms Farmer, a psychologist, 41, is believed to be one of three victims — all minors at the time of the alleged offences — on whom US federal prosecutors are relying in their case against Ms Maxwell. One of the girls was only 14.

A six-count indictment, which summarises the charges, identifies Ms Farmer only as “minor victim 2”, who was allegedly abused in New Mexico in 1996.

However, she has waived her right to anonymity and last week she pleaded for Ms Maxwell to be kept behind bars in a statement to her bail hearing. “She was a sexual predator who abused me and countless other children and young women,” she told the judge.

Although prosecutors have not revealed her evidence, details of Ms Farmer’s alleged ordeal were contained in a civil lawsuit filed in December.

The damages claim, alleging battery and false imprisonment, was made against Ms Maxwell and the estate of Epstein after the wealthy financier killed himself in custody last year as he was awaiting trial for multiple sex offences.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: AFP

The papers allege that “Maxwell spent years overseeing and managing Epstein’s sex-trafficking network … Epstein’s preference was to have three different girls a day for his sexual pleasure and Maxwell was in charge of ­recruiting the girls”.

The documents say Ms Farm­er’s parents divorced when she was young and her “mother struggled financially to support Annie and her siblings”. In 1995, Ms Farmer’s older sister, Maria, was recruited to work for Epstein’s New York household. During this time, Maria noticed Ms Maxwell, Epstein’s then girlfriend, spotting girls and talking to them outside the Manhattan property. “Maxwell would leave the mansion claiming she had ‘to go get girls for Jeffrey’,” the lawsuit claims.

When Epstein discovered Maria had a younger sister, he persuaded her to bring Annie to New York from the family home in Arizona. During this visit, Ms Farmer alleges Epstein sat between the two sisters at a cinema and fondled her.

It is claimed the financier later invited the younger sibling to his 4050ha ranch in New Mexico, telling Ms Farmer’s mother he had organised an educational gathering for high school students. “He explained that Maxwell would be a host or chaperone for Annie at the event,” the court papers say.

The couple allegedly paid for Annie to fly to the remote Zorro ranch in spring 1996, but she arrived to discover there were no other students. They took Annie to see a film. While in line for the movie, Ms Maxwell pulled down Epstein’s pants, exposing part of his buttocks. Both Epstein and Ms Maxwell fondled each other in front of the girl.

A protester sits outside the New York court where Ghislaine Maxwell appeared last week. Picture: AFP

Upon returning to the ranch, Ms Maxwell allegedly directed Annie to take off her clothes and lay on a massage table, where she touched intimate parts of Annie’s body against her will for Ms Maxwell's sexual benefit and Epstein’s.

“Maxwell exposed Annie’s breasts and groped her,” the pap­ers say. The next morning, Epstein visited Ms Farmer in her room, got into bed demanding a “cuddle” and sexually assaulted her.

Ms Farmer’s lawyers say she decided to go public with her allegations only after Epstein’s suicide because she feared retaliation. Last week, it was revealed Ms Maxwell was seeking to block the release of the 418-page deposition and other papers, claiming they were “extremely personal”.

On Saturday, it was claimed Ms Maxwell kept a “sex swing” and would hang upside down “like a bat” on another device in an ­attempt to look younger.

The Sunday Times