c/o Inner City Press
Extra Details in comments (c/o Adam Klasfled)
PREVIOUS UPDATES
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29 Nov https://greatawakening.win/p/140c066vhu/ghislaine-maxwell-case-updates/ https://archive.ph/UJvbk
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30 Nov https://greatawakening.win/p/140c4iFhTt/ghislaine-maxwell-case-updates-n/ https://archive.ph/CP0IO
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1 Dec https://greatawakening.win/p/140c4mlM5Q/ghislaine-maxwell-case-updates-d/ https://archive.md/kvjoj
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2 Dec https://greatawakening.win/p/140c9NlRh7/ghislaine-maxwell-case-updates-d/ https://archive.md/5iA5T
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3 Dec https://greatawakening.win/p/140c9UZGeQ/ghislaine-maxwell-case-updates-d/ https://archive.md/oaWCx
Exhibits Released of Palm Beach Photos: https://archive.md/VxNaH
1409GMT
Before the jury comes in, Judge Nathan is reading rulings on exhibits.
Judge Nathan: The pictures on the wall [of Epstein's massage room] risk prejudice and distracting the jury. They should be redacted. The other photos, of vibrators, the court will exclude.
Judge Nathan: I will also exclude the photos of the "creepy animals" Jane testified to. The tigers, for example, are highly idiosyncratic. The school girl uniforms may be admissible, depending on the testimony.
Judge Nathan: For exhibits the jury has, the public should get the redacted version.
Judge Nathan: So when the jury comes out, what would you like me to tell them?
Maxwell's lawyer: That the parties have reached a stipulation about the last witness and that to not to call him back we will read in the stipulation.
AUSA: Uh, could we have a sidebar?
Judge Nathan: Bring the jury in.
Jury Enters
Judge Nathan: Please be seated. You may recall the last witness from Friday, the parties have a stipulation. Mr. Everdell?
Maxwell's lawyer Everdell: It is hereby agreed by US Attorney Damian William and Maurene Comey etc of counsel and Ghislaine Maxwell that the witness would have said that the cardboard box was found in the closet of a guest bedroom had items unopened. Def Exh B.
Assistant US Attorney: The government calls "Kate."
Judge Nathan: The witness testifying under the name Kate may come forward. [Adds notice to sketch artists to not be accurate.]
AUSA: Jurors should pick up their binder and turn to Exhibit 16, under seal.
AUSA Pomerantz: Kate what's your work?
Kate: I work with women who are victims of trauma.
AUSA Pomerantz: What did you do before?
Kate: I was a musician and singer.
AUSA: How did you meet Ms. Maxwell?
Kate: I had a boyfriend who introduced me to her in Paris.
AUSA Pomerantz: When did you next see Ms Maxwell?
Kate: A few weeks later. I went to her home for tea. I saw a photo of her with a man with salt and pepper hair.
AUSA: Did you find out who it was?
Kate: Jeffrey Epstein.
AUSA: So where did you meet Epstein?
Kate: At Maxwell's townhouse. She invited me over. Jeffrey Epstein was in sweat clothes speaking on the phone very loudly. Maxwell told him I was surprisingly strong for my size. He asked for a massage; he said he liked it.
Kate: Then Maxwell told me that the massage therapist had canceled and that I should give him the massage since my hands were too strong.
AUSA: Did she comment on how often Epstein needed massage?
Maxwell's lawyer: Objection - leading.
Judge Nathan: Sustained.
1508GMT
AUSA: What was Epstein wearing?
Kate: A robe. He took it off.
AUSA: What was he wearing under?
Kate: He was naked.
AUSA: Was Maxwell there?
Kate: Yes
AUSA: Did Epstein initiate sexual contact with you?
Kate: Yes. Then Maxwell said, How did it go? Did you have fun?
Kate: Later Maxwell told me to find someone to give Epstein a blowj*b. She said he needed to have sex 3 times a day.
AUSA: When you first met Maxwell and Epstein what was your understanding of their relationship?
Kate: I thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
Kate: Maxwell told me she was friends with Prince Andrew, Donald Trump. The names would just come up in conversation.
AUSA: What gifts did you receive from Maxwell?
Kate: A small black Prada bag for my 18th birthday.
AUSA: After sex with Epstein?
Kate: Yes, after.
AUSA: Were you given clothes to wear at Epstein's Palm Beach house?
Kate: Yes, a school girl's outfit with a short skirt, white panties and white socks.
AUSA: Did there come a time you stopped communicating with Epstein?
Kate: Yes. In my late 20s.
AUSA: Were you compensated by the Epstein Victim's Fund?
Kate: Yes.
AUSA: Are you planning to sue Maxwell?
Kate: No.
Judge Nathan: We'll take a break now, jurors.
1547GMT
Recess
1639GMT
Now Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim cross examination of Witness Kate:
Sternheim: You had a beautiful mother, didn't you?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: And your step father was rich and you lived in the Belgravia section of London, didn't you?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were an international model?
Kate: I was a model.
Sternheim: You were dating an older, prominent gentleman who was an Oxford classmate of Ghislaine, correct?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were a model for a UK version of Victoria's Secret?
Kate: No. The company failed almost right way.
Sternheim: But you were a lingerie model?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were in a piano bar and were discovered by the musician Seal, right?
Kate: No.
Sternheim: But you said that. You acted in movies?
Kate: I did not have speaking roles.
Sternheim: You were in a movie with a very well known UK actor, correct?
Kate: Yes
Sternheim: You spoke publicly, in your own name, in this courthouse, right?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You were invited by a judge in this courthouse, Judge Berman, to speak, and you spoke, right?
Kate: Yes.
1700GMT
Sternheim: And you've spoke with Virginia Roberts Giuffre?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: You used drugs for 10 years, right?
Kate: Yes.
Sternheim: And you dated other men, right?
Kate: Yes, I dated men.
Sternheim: And you even married one of them?
Kate: Are you asking me if I've been married?
Sternheim: And you were with a prominent restaurateur?
Kate: I was with a man who owned 2 restaurants.
Sternheim: Didn't a tabloid encourage you to get a man connected to the royal family to buy cocaine?
Kate: Not exactly.
Sternheim: And that became a big tabloid spectacular, right?
Kate: I suppose.
Sternheim: When were you last in contact with Epstein?
Kate: 30s.
Sternheim: Give me a date.
Kate: I don't have a date.
Sternheim: How old are you?
Kate: 44.
1744GMT
Sternheim: Aren't you trying to get a victim's visa? Isn't this your name?
Kate: My visa application is based on extraordinary ability.
Sternheim: Which one?
Kate: Music teaching to treat trauma.
Sternheim: Any unlicensed music coach can get it?
Sternheim: Nothing further.
Judge Nathan: Re-direct?
AUSA: Let's take the lunch break.
Judge Nathan: OK.
1750GMT
Recess
1907GMT
The jury is finally back in, for re-direct of still pseudonymous witness Kate, starting with her award from the Epstein victims' fund.
Next US witness: Patrick McHugh of JP Morgan Chase: "I'm an officer of the firm. I can speak to who is authorized to access accounts and the like."
Assistant US Attorney names a slew of financial exhibits and calls them public exhibits.
Pending getting all these exhibits, the current one shows a wire transfer involving Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for $7,400,000, JPM Chase and BONY Mellon.
Now JPM's McHugh is being asked about helicopter purchase. The exhibits as shown on the screens are blurry - will have to wait to get access to legible copies.
Maxwell's lawyer: This document doesn't show who approved it, right?
McHugh: Yes, the statement does not
Next witness is FBI's Ms. Kelly McGuire, Special Agent.
AUSA: What is this?
Agent McGuire: The front view of the resident [at 9 E. 71 Street]. When there was no response, we forced our way in.
AUSA: Did you come across the massage room on the third floor?
McGuire: We, we did. This photo, 902r, is the entrance to the massage room.
AUSA: And 903r?
McGuire: It's the massage room.
[The pictures on the wall are redacted, in the public exhibit]
McGuire is done. Judge Nathan asks if the US has a short witness (for the next 10 minutes). Now starting: another FBI agent.
AUSA: Does each FBI investigation have its own number?
Agent: Yes.
AUSA: Did you review CDs in 2020?
Agent: Yes, with Amelia Young.
AUSA: We offer into evidence this photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Judge Nathan: We'll break for the day. Jurors, have a good night. Counsel? Anything we need to take up?
Maxwell's lawyer: We object to the photo of our client lying on a boat.
2158GMT
Court Adjourned
[Extra Details c/o Adam Klasfeld]
The second week of Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking trial will begin shortly. The first week ended with prosecutors hauling Jeffrey Epstein's massage table into court. Photos: https://archive.md/zjJcI
From Friday's testimony by Gregory Parkinson, ex-crime scene manager from the Palm Beach PD:
Q. Is this the green massage table that you remember seizing from 358 El Brillo Way on October 20, 2005? A. True.
The judge says the next anticipated witness is "Kate," who is one of the witnesses against Maxwell. The defense says that she was over the age of consent, and there are arguments as to the scope of her testimony.
Judge Nathan said she will tell the jury: "I instruct you that the witness is not a victim of the crimes charged in the indictment."
(So, though 'Kate' was one of four accusers, I am referring her to a witness here.)
Judge Nathan orders redacting the photographs on the wall of Epstein's massage room. She will also exclude photographs of vibrators of various sizes, which she says have "little if any relevance" and could "confuse" the jury.
The schoolgirl outfits may be able to come in if the witness connects them to the permissible time frame of the indictment.
(Explainer as to some of the admissibility questions: The search of Epstein's Palm Beach house was in 2005, after the time period of the indictment.
The allegations of the indictment end in 2004.
Maxwell's defense team has made admissibility arguments on that basis.)
As to the vibrators ruling, the juror was allowed to see similar pieces of evidence.
The jury enters.
Judge Nathan informs them that the parties agreed to stipulate to the remaining testimony of Sgt. Dawson, the final witness from last week.
Judge Nathan instructs the jury that "Kate" is not a victim of the crimes charged in the indictment, and the government has been instructed not to testify about the details of any sexual contact with Epstein.
Direct examination begins:
Q: "Kate," do you recognize that?
A: Yes.
Asked what it is, she replies: "It's my driver's license."
Submitted under seal and shown to the jury.
Kate: "I had been dating a man, and we had taken a trip to Paris."
She says she met Maxwell there. She says she was approximately 17 years old.
"We spoke about the evening and where we were headed to, out for the evening. We spoke about where I lived."
"Kate" says Maxwell invited her to tea at her house.
"She seemed very exciting. She seemed to be everything I wanted to be," she says. "Kate" recalls photographs of a slightly older man with "peppered hair," "greying hair."
It was Jeffrey Epstein, she says. Kate: "I had a really lovely time, and I felt special. And I felt..."
(Deep exhale)
"—that I found a new connection that could be very meaningful for me."
Kate: "I left there feeling exhilarated," like someone wanted to be her friend.
Kate quoting Maxwell and Epstein: "She said that he was a philanthropist and that he liked to help young people."
"Kate": "She said that I was exactly the kind of person that he would help."
She says she was 17 and that she was "lonely" and "hadn't found a group of friends yet."
Q: Did there come a time when you met Epstein?
A: Yes.
Kate on her memory of meeting Epstein: "He seemed to be in his 40s."
Kate on Maxwell: "She said 'This is the girl that I told you about'" and "that I was strangely strong for my size."
Asked what her size was, she responds she was about 95 lbs.
"She said, 'Why don't you give his feet a little squeeze to show him how strong you are?"
She says she did.
"Kate" says that Epstein's massage therapist canceled and Maxwell asked if she could fill in.
Q: Were you a massage therapist at the time?
A (faintly): No.
Maxwell's lawyer: "Objection. Sustained."
(Correcting herself)
"Objection. Leading."
Judge Nathan: I'll allow it.
Q: What was Epstein wearing under the robe?
A: He was naked.
She says that Maxwell gave her massage oil and then closed the door.
Q: During the massage, did Epstein initiate sexual contact with you?
A: Yes.
(Per court's ruling, she can't describe details.)
Kate recalls Maxwell asking her "How'd it go?" and "Did you have fun?"
Q: What was Epstein wearing?
A: He was naked.
Asked where Maxwell was, she replied she was in the doorway.
Then came another massage and sex act.
Q: What if anything did Maxwell say to you after the massage?
She says Maxwell told her "Did you have fun?" and "You're such a good girl."
Kate: "She sounded really pleased, and I was pleased that she was pleased."
Asked whether Maxwell brought up sexual topics, Kate says: She would talk a lot about the nature of, she would say, "boys'" and use a euphemism for a penis.
She says Maxwell asked if there was anyone who could give Epstein a bl*w job because it was a lot of work for her to do.
Kate: "You know what he likes. Cute, young, pretty—like you."
"Kate" on Maxwell: "She said that she was friends with Prince Andrew, friends with Donald Trump," friends with "lots of famous people."
"Kate" said Maxwell gave her a gift for her 18th birthday, after the sexual contact with Epstein:
"I received a small, black Prada handbag."
(Prosecutors have long described the gifts as part of Maxwell's "grooming" process.)
Connecting to one of the evidentiary issues described during pre-trial proceedings:
Q: What were you given to wear?
A: I was given a schoolgirl outfit.
"Kate" describes it as a short pleated skirt, white socks, white panties and a shirt.
This happened in Palm Beach, she says.
Q: Why did you put on the schoolgirl outfit?
A: 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.
Q: Did Epstein engage in a sex act with you?
A (softly): Yes.
(Details of sexual contact are not being elicited pursuant to court order.)
"Kate": "She asked me if I had fun and told me I was such a good girl and told me I was one of his favorites."
"Kate" is being asked about going to Epstein's island, saying he called it "Little St. Jeff."
She was in her early 20s at the time, she said.
"Kate" on her recollections of the island: "I remember seeing a blonde slim girl, who seemed far younger than me at the time, very young."
"Kate" says she was addicted to cocaine, alcohol and sleeping pills.
(This is being elicited on direct examination, and Maxwell's defense attorney said in opening she "used drugs during the period of time" and "that it fogged her memory.")
Asked whether her memories have changed, as the defense asserts, "Kate" denies it.
"The memories that I have of significant events of my life have never changed," she says.
She adds she may initially have "missed" certain memories that she later recalls.
She says "I asked to testify under a pseudonym because I have a child" and she doesn't want the child to be associated with her testimony.
Kate says that she received a $3.25 million settlement from a fund meant to compensate Epstein's victims.
(Maxwell's defense has cited settlements to discredit accusers.)
Q: Have you ever sued Maxwell?
A: No.
Q: Do you ever expect to sue Maxwell?
A: No.
Direct examination ends.
Sidebar & Recess
Cross-examination begins:
Bobbi Sternheim asks her about her family.
Sternheim refers to "Kate's" mother as a debutante and says her step-father was very wealthy. They lived in a tony neighborhood, the lawyer says.
She describes the witness as someone who was an "international model" whose photo was widely published.
Q: You were on billboards, weren't you?
A: I was on a billboard, once.
Asked if she modeled for a lingerie company, "Kate" replies: "I was a model for a lingerie company that failed almost as soon as it began."
Q: But it was a lingerie company, correct?
A: Yes.
Sternheim asks her about going to US on "extraordinary ability" visa.
Q: Your extraordinary ability at that time was to go to Hollywood, wasn't it?
A: I'm not sure if going to Hollywood is an extraordinary ability, but I was a musician.
Asked if she was discovered by the musician Seal, she replies: No.
Asked about the foundation the witness launched, she said: "It was a foundation for women who have trauma and substance abuse disorder."
"Kate" acknowledges but downplays her attorney writing a book that mentions her.
"I think there's only one sentence about me."
Asked whether she gave permission for him to do that, she says yes. (Lawyer is asking questions about her anonymity.)
Sternheim turns to questioning about "Kate's" abuse of drugs and alcohol.
Q: You have lived a sober life since then?
A: Yes, I have.
Asked whether those substances affected her memory, "Kate" replies that they didn't affect the memories she always had.
Asked if she divorced her restaurateur ex-husband, she replies: "He divorced me."
Sternheim asks if she ever remarried, and she replies, softly, no.
Sternheim asks whether "Kate" asked someone to plant drugs on the father of her child to advance a custody case.
"Absolutely not," she replies, emphatically.
Sternheim asks to enter "Kate's" email correspondence with Epstein — when he was in jail — into evidence.
One was signed — "Best, love always, 'Kate,'" she says.
"Kate" agrees.
Q: You initiated email contact with him, correct?
A: Yes.
Q: You initiated email contact because you wanted to meet with him in New York?
A: Yes.
She says she stopped contact with him when she became a mother.
(She was in her 30s when she was last in contact with Epstein, she said.)
Recess
Patrick McHugh, executive director in client services for JPMorgan, is called to authenticate bank records.
They show wire transfers from accounts owned by Epstein to Maxwell, inc.:
$18.3 million in Bear Stearns money market shares in Oct. 1999
$5 million on Sept. 18, 2002
Court records show two transfers of ~$7.4 million three days apart on June 2007.
On June 18, 2007, an account associated with "Air Ghislaine Inc." showed a transfer marked for "purchase of green helicop" just under that amount, according to records displayed in court and recited by the witness.
Cross examination goes to "Air Ghislaine." Note on the two ~$7.4M transactions—
They appear to be the same amount passing through multiple accounts toward that helicopter purchase.
Judge Nathan appears skeptical about admitting them, giving the chronological and physical distance between them and the one “Kate” described from Palm Beach more than a decade earlier.
Prosecutors did not ask Kate whether the one she was made to wear resembled the one recovered from Epstein’s NY home far later.
Judge Nathan said that’s what she thought might happen, but it didn’t. So she suggested (without ruling) that she’s unlikely to admit it.
Thanks again for posting! Much appreciated!