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Maxwell “was very casual,” the witness using the pseudonym ‘Jane’ told a New York City jury.
“Like it was no big deal,” she said.
Jane claimed the defendant instructed her on how to give Epstein sexual massages and sometimes physically participated in the encounters as well.
The witness was the first of four alleged victims expected to testify against Maxwell at a New York City trial where she is charged with recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to at least 2004.
The witness first met Epstein in 1994 when she was attending a music camp in pursuit of a singing career, she said. He came up to her and introduced himself as a donor. They discovered that they both lived in Palm Beach, Florida, she said.
The woman and her mother soon received invitations to Epstein’s home, she said.
He and Maxwell would take her shopping for clothes, including underwear from Victoria’s Secret, she said.
The cycle of abuse started when Epstein abruptly took her by hand one day and said, “Follow me,” before taking her to a pool house at the home.
Then he pulled down his pants, pulled her close and “proceeded to masturbate,” she said.
“I was frozen in fear,” she said.
“I’d never see a penis before. … I was terrified and felt gross and felt ashamed.”
Another time, she was taken to a massage room where he and Maxwell both took advantage of her, she said.
“There were hands everywhere and Jeffrey proceeded to masturbate again,” she said.
Other encounters involved sex toys or turned into oral sex “orgies” with other young women and Maxwell, she added.
The testimony was expected to continue throughout the day and into tomorrow.
Pilot saw ‘no evidence’ of sexual activity
The witness’ testimony followed that of a long-time pilot for Epstein, who told a jury on Tuesday (local time) at Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial that he never saw evidence of sexual activity on planes as he flew his boss and others — including a prince and ex-presidents — for nearly three decades.
Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr, the trial’s first witness, was responding to questions by a defence lawyer when he acknowledged that he never encountered sexual activity aboard two jets he piloted for roughly 1000 trips between 1991 and 2019.
He said he stayed in the cockpit for the majority of flights, but would sometimes emerge to go to the bathroom or get coffee.
Although he was called as a witness by the government, Mr Visoski’s testimony seemed to aid the defence of Maxwell as he answered questions posed by Maxwell attorney Christian Everdell about what he saw when he straightened up the aircraft after a flight.
Mr Visoski didn’t hesitate when Mr Everdell asked him if he ever saw sexual activity when he went for coffee or found sex toys when he cleaned up.
“Never,” the pilot answered to both questions.
He said he never saw used condoms either.
And when he was asked if he ever saw sex acts with underage females, he answered: “Absolutely not.”
The pilot said Epstein never warned him to stay in the cockpit during flights and also encouraged him to use a bathroom near the rear of the plane that would require him to walk past the plane’s couches.
He said he never saw any children on his planes who were not accompanied by their parents.
When Mr Everdell asked him about a teenager who prosecutors say was sexually abused by Epstein before she became an adult, Mr Visoski said he believed she was “mature” when he was introduced to her.
He also acknowledged that Clinton was a passenger on a few flights in the 2000s and he had piloted planes with Britain’s Prince Andrew, the late US Senator John Glenn of Ohio — the first American to orbit Earth — and former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, “more than once.”
Mr Visoski said Epstein gave him 40 acres of land to build a house on the financier’s New Mexico property and paid for his daughters’ college education.
Flight records, made public as part of civil litigation, also showed that Epstein had used the plane to fly celebrities, influential academics and politicians around the globe.
Luminaries who flew with Epstein have had to beat back speculation that their presence on the flights meant they must have been aware of the millionaire’s crimes.
Clinton, like others who took rides from Epstein, has said he was unaware of any misconduct.
Maxwell, 59, travelled for decades in circles that put her in contact with accomplished and wealthy people before her July 2020 arrest.
Asked by Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey where Maxwell stood in the hierarchy of Epstein’s world, Mr Visoski said Maxwell “was the Number 2”.
He added that “Epstein was the big Number 1”.
The testimony supports what Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz told jurors in her opening statement Monday when she said Epstein and Maxwell were “partners in crime.”
Ms Pomerantz said Maxwell recruited and groomed girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to at least 2004.
Mr Visoski testified briefly on Monday before beginning Tuesday on the witness stand.
Source: 9News
