(New York) A folding, green-colored massage table used by businessman Jeffrey Epstein was brought into a Manhattan courtroom and set up in front of a jury on Friday to substantiate claims that he turned himself. associated with the British Ghislaine Maxwell to sexually exploit underage victims.
This staging in Manhattan Federal Court was intended to corroborate the testimony of a key accuser in the trial that the massages were used as a pretext for sexual encounters with the businessman, in which Ms.me Maxwell.
A witness who claimed the abuse began when she was 14 described seeing a massage table in a ‘massage room’ which police say was in the same location at Mr Epstein’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida in 2005.
A police officer testified that investigators also seized files, computers and sex toys – a photo of which was shown to the jury – from the residence.
Prosecutors presented jurors with a video recording of the residence made by police showing nude photos on the walls – a setting which federal prosecutors say is evidence of a sexualized atmosphere encouraged by Mr.me Maxwell to put pressure on the victims.
The evidence was presented despite defense objections which characterized it as prejudicial. Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim accused prosecutors of trying to unfairly portray Jeffrey Epstein’s home as a “home of debauchery.”
Prosecutors alleged the British socialite was preparing teenage girls for sexual abuse by taking them to shops, to the movies, discussing their lives and encouraging them to accept financial aid from Mr Epstein. They also claim that Mme Maxwell helped create a sexually charged atmosphere by talking about sex with the girls and educating them about Mr. Epstein’s alleged sexualized massages.
Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, denies the allegations against her, and her lawyers say prosecutors are going after her because they cannot try Mr Epstein, who committed suicide in prison before she can stand trial .
Mme Maxwell was the businessman’s girlfriend and later his employee.
The accuser, who uses the pseudonym “Jane” to protect her privacy, claimed earlier this week that on her first visit to Mr. Epstein’s home she was disturbed by “paintings of half-naked or nude women. naked ”. In the massage room next to the master bedroom they shared, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell “showed me, you know, what he likes, what you know, what men like, what women like ”.
Also on Friday, a former employee of the businessman, Juan Patricio Alessi, returned to the witness stand to face cross-examination on his testimony that “Jane” and another woman who accused the businessman for sexually abusing her as a teenager, were regular visitors to the Palm Beach villa, where Mr.me Maxwell was “the mistress of the house”.
An attorney for Ghislaine Maxwell has sought to discredit Mr Alessi – who worked for Mr Epstein from 1990 to 2002 – by confronting him with testimony from a civil case which the defense says is inconsistent with his testimony at trial.
Mr. Alessi said Friday that none of the many young women who visited the Florida home alerted him to any misconduct.
“I wish they had done it because I would have done something,” he said.