Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were described as thick as thieves who "compliment each other really well." Photo / South District New York
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were described as thick as thieves who "compliment each other really well." Photo / South District New York
Jurors in Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking trial have been shown pictures of the British socialite and late financier Jeffrey Epstein together, including two shots that showed her rubbing Epstein's feet aboard an aeroplane and one of the pair kissing.
FBI analyst Kimberly Meder told the court the images were recoveredfrom CDs seized during a raid on his New York mansion in 2019.
Another photo shows Epstein holding Maxwell from behind while speaking on the phone.
The digital photographs also included images of two women who have accused Maxwell of serving them up to Epstein as teenagers in various states of undress.
A 2002 document on a hard drive, registered under the name "GMax", also recovered from Epstein's mansion detailed the pair's intimate relationship – including how they were "rarely apart".
"Jeffrey and Ghislaine have been together as a couple for the last 11 years," the email, read by FBI digital forensic examiner Stephen Flatley on the stand, began.
"They are, contrary to what people think, rarely apart, I almost always see them together."
The document went on to describe Maxwell as "highly intelligent and great company with a ready smile and an infectious laugh" who put people at ease.
"Jeffrey and Ghislaine share many mutual interests and they have a lot of fun together," it continued, adding, "they compliment each other really well."
"On top of being partner's [sic] they are also best of friends."
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Batman Forever premiere in 1995. Photo / Supplied
It was not revealed who wrote the email.
Under cross examination, Maxwell's defence lawyer, Laura Menninger, quizzed Meder about whether she could confirm that the 20,000 photos weren't altered to which she replied that she couldn't say that for sure.
Third accuser alleges she was preyed on as a minor.
A third witness also took the stand to allege Maxwell co-ordinated sexualised massages with Epstein, starting when she was 14.
When she met Maxwell in her early teens, Carolyn, who used her first name to testify, was vulnerable – she had an alcoholic mother, a 17-year-old boyfriend, and had been raped and molested by her grandfather from the age of four. She said she was in need of money.
She said longtime Epstein and Maxwell accuser, Virginia Giuffre, knew her then-boyfriend, and introduced Carolyn to the couple at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion in the early 2000s.
"Virginia asked me if I wanted to come make money," Carolyn told the court, to which prosecutor Maurene Comey asked if she'd been told what she "had to do to make that money".
"Not right away," Carolyn said, adding that Giuffre said they were going to her friend's house to "give him a massage".
They were "greeted by Maxwell", Giuffre introducing Carolyn as "her friend", and then Maxwell allegedly said, "You can bring her upstairs and show her what to do."
Upon entering Epstein's bathroom, Giuffre took a massage table out of the closet, and then took her clothes off, before asking Carolyn if she'd be comfortable doing the same.
Epstein entered, got onto the massage table facedown, and after 45 minutes turned over, and "Virginia got on top of him" and had sex with him, Carolyn said.
Carolyn revealed she went to Epstein's house "over 100" times between the ages of 14 and 18, and that during her interactions with Maxwell, she was asked about sex toys and Maxwell touched her.
"I was upstairs setting up the massage table and at that point I was kind of comfortable because I'd been there so many times," she said.
"I was getting fully nude, and she came in and felt my boobs and my hips and my buttocks and said … that I had a great body for Epstein and his friends. She just said that I had a good body type."
Yesterday, another of Maxwell's accusers took the witness stand in her sex trafficking trial, telling a court the British socialite informed her that Epstein needed to have sex "three times a day".
"Kate," a pseudonym, is the second of four women expected to testify at the trial of Maxwell, who has pleaded not guilty to six counts of enticing and transporting minors for sex. She is accused of grooming underage girls to be exploited by her long-time partner Epstein, the late financier who killed himself in jail two years ago while awaiting his own trial.
Introduced to Maxwell by a then boyfriend in Paris in 1994 when she was just 17, Kate said she was invited to Maxwell's London townhouse, where Epstein was wearing a robe. Maxwell told her Epstein's massage therapist had cancelled and asked if she could fill in.
Kate claimed Epstein then took off his robe to reveal his naked body, Maxwell handed her massage oil and then closed the door. Epstein then initiated sexual contact with her, but was unable to discuss the details per the court's ruling. She said Maxwell asked her afterwards if she had fun.
"How did it go? Did you have fun? Was it good?" she quoted Maxwell as asking. "She seemed very excited and happy."
"Later Maxwell told me to find someone to give Epstein a b***job," Kate claimed, adding Maxwell told her he needed to have sex "three times a day".
"Jeffrey and Ghislaine share many mutual interests and they have a lot of fun together." Photo / Getty Images
Kate accused the 59-year-old of giving her a school uniform in order to dress up for Epstein.
She said the pleated skirt, white socks and shirt were laid out for her on a bed when she arrived at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion in Florida with the duo in the early 1990s.
"I thought it would be fun for you to take Jeffrey his tea in this outfit," she says Maxwell told her.
Asked why she wore it, she replied: "I didn't know how to say no to that. I didn't know anybody in Florida. I had never been to Palm Beach or Florida before. I wasn't sure if I said no if I would have to leave or what consequence there would be for not doing it."
Maxwell told her she was a "good girl" and "one of his favourites".
