NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell manipulated young girls and “served them up” to Jeffrey Epstein, a New York court heard Monday as the trial began of the British socialite allegedly at the centre of one of the largest sex-trafficking rings in U.S. history.
Prosecutors told the jury that Maxwell was the late financier’s partner in a “pyramid scheme of abuse,” in which she groomed girls as young as 14 who were in turn forced to recruit other girls for Epstein’s pleasure.
Lara Pomerantz, the assistant U.S. attorney, said at the start of what has already been described as the “trial of the century” that the British heiress, who has spent the past 15 months in a Brooklyn prison, used her “cover of respectability” to deceive Epstein’s victims.
“Make no mistake, she knew what Epstein was going to do. He did not abuse (the victims) alone, she was in the room for the abuse,” said Pomerantz, who warned the jury that some of the allegations would be “hard to hear.”
No comments:
Post a Comment