Two alleged Ghislaine Maxwell victims over age of consent

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have accused prosecutors of making ‘eleventh-hour’ changes to the case against her, days before she is due to go on trial.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking, stands before US District Judge Alison J. Nathan with her defence team in a courtroom sketch. Picture: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have accused prosecutors of making “eleventh-hour” changes to the case against her as it emerged that two of four “minor victims” due to be called were over the age of consent under local laws at the time.

Arguments over how these victims’ testimony should be presented to the jury played out at a final preparatory hearing on Tuesday, days before Maxwell is due to go on trial accused of aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his abuse of minors.

Maxwell, 59, watched as her lawyers sparred with prosecutors. Her sister Isabel was in the public gallery.

The dispute came amid indications that Virginia Giuffre, who says she was recruited by Maxwell and “lent out for sexual purposes” to Prince Andrew, will not be giving evidence. The prince has consistently denied the claims.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 1995. Picture: Getty Images

Lawyers for the Duke of York, who is being sued by Giuffre in a New York court, claimed that the decision not to call her in the criminal case against Maxwell undermined her credibility.

Giuffre’s lawyer has suggested that his client was not part of the case against Maxwell because she was 17 at the time, which is over the age of consent in some of the locations where her abuse is alleged to have taken place. Now similar complications have arisen in relation to two other alleged victims who will testify against Maxwell in the criminal trial. In the indictment, Maxwell is accused of conspiring to “entice” and “transport” minor victims to perform illegal sexual acts with Epstein.

Maxwell is accused of grooming a 17-year-old in London in the 1990s, encouraging her to perform massages on Epstein knowing that he would engage in sexual activity with her. However, she was over the UK age of consent.

In a partially redacted filing with the court, Maxwell’s lawyers said that the accuser’s testimony would include accounts of acts some might find “morally reprehensible or even repugnant” but remained “perfectly legal”.

On Tuesday Judge Alison Nathan said that she intended to instruct the jury that they could not convict Maxwell over that alleged conduct. Her lawyers complain that she has been charged as if it was illegal. “This is really an eleventh-hour issue,” the court was told.

Similar questions were raised over the allegations made by Annie Farmer, who has waived her anonymity. Prosecutors allege she was brought to Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico in 1996 but she is said to have been 16 at the time, above the age of consent in the state.

Judge Nathan said the allegations could still provide evidence of the charge that Maxwell conspired to entice a teenager from New York, where she would be considered a minor.

The Times