‘I saw nothing improper’, says Ghislaine Maxwell assistant

Ghislaine Maxwell’s former ­assistant says she never saw her employer or the late financier ­Jeffrey Epstein engage in any ­inappropriate behaviour with underage girls.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were a couple for years. Picture: Reuters

Ghislaine Maxwell’s former ­assistant says she never saw her employer or the late financier ­Jeffrey Epstein engage in any ­inappropriate behaviour with underage girls.

Cimberly Espinosa, 55, was the first witness called on Thursday by lawyers ­defending the British socialite against charges of enticing and transporting minors for sex.

Ms Maxwell, 55, is accused of grooming underage girls to be sexually exploited by her long-time partner Epstein, who killed himself in jail two years ago while awaiting trial.

Ms Espinosa, who worked as Ms Maxwell’s assistant from 1996 to 2002, responded “never” when asked by a defence lawyer whether she had ever seen Maxwell or Epstein engage in any ­inappropriate activity with underaged girls.

She told the New York court she was hired when she was 28 to work as an administrative assistant with Epstein’s legal team. After about a month she switched to become Ms Maxwell’s assistant.

Ms Espinosa said Ms Maxwell was “demanding” but she enjoyed working for her. “I hugely respected Ghislaine. I looked up to her very much,” she said. “She treated me fair. It was nice and it was fun.”

Her duties included booking meetings, setting up calls and making dinner reservations.

“Ghislaine was very important to Jeffrey,” Ms Espinosa said.

She was also asked questions about “Jane”, a woman who testified under a pseudonym about being recruited by Ms Maxwell at a summer camp when she was 14.

Jane, one of four women who took the stand to testify against Ms Maxwell, said sexual encounters with Epstein became routine, with Ms Maxwell sometimes present.

Ms Espinosa said Jane would regularly come to the office and she felt she had a “loving relationship” with Epstein. She said Jane’s mother also regularly came to the office and referred to her daughter as Epstein’s “god-daughter”.

“She was kind of considered family and always treated with the utmost respect,” Ms Espinosa said. Jane, her mother and brothers regularly stayed at an apartment that Epstein owned in Manhattan, she said.

Ms Espinosa testified that when she first starting working for Epstein in 1996 she thought he and Maxwell were a couple. “They were a little flirty,” she said.

By the last two years of her ­employment, they had “kind of gone their separate ways”.

The Times