The images could have come out of the album of any relatively wealthy couple: a gray-haired man and a slightly younger woman in casual moments, not posed—standing on a wooden walkway, sitting on a motorcycle, at the table with a drink.
What distinguishes the photos are the people they show: Jeffrey Epstein, a demoralized financier who killed himself in a federal prison cell in 2019 where he was detained on charges of sex trafficking, and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend, who is currently on trial in Manhattan District Court for sex trafficking and other charges.
More than 12 of the photos were shown last week during Maxwell’s trial, revealing the carefree surface of a relationship that, according to witness testimony, concealed much darker aspects. The photos were presented at the trial by the public authorities, defeating the defense’s objections. Prosecutors sought to document through the images the relationship that Maxwell and Epstein had over the years.
Now, as the defense prepares to present its arguments at the trial that would resume on Thursday (16), Maxwell’s lawyers will try to convince jurors that the woman seen in the photos was little more than a scapegoat for Epstein, a of the most notorious sex offenders in recent American history.
Defendant’s lawyers have not publicly disclosed who they will call to testify, but have said they will present arguments that should not go on for more than four days. In court proceedings, they have suggested that they want to present at least one expert witness to counter the testimony of an expert called by the government. This one described a process known as grooming that is used by sexual predators to attract victims and get them used to accepting abuse.
But the suggested timeline suggests that Ghislaine Maxwell herself is unlikely to testify, and jurors won’t hear firsthand about her relationship with Epstein, which in many ways underlies the lawsuit.
Four women testified that when they were teenagers Maxwell helped prepare them for abuse by Epstein. Two of them reported that Maxwell was pretending to be a friend or mentor who would be introducing them to his life of money and glamour. The government claimed that Maxwell was Epstein’s “best friend and right-hand man” even after the “intimate personal relationship” between the two ended. In the opening arguments, she was described as Epstein’s willing accomplice. Maxwell, said one of the prosecutors, “would accompany the girls to a room where he knew this man would molest them.”
The photos shown in court are part of materials found in 2019 when FBI agents searched Jeffrey Epstein’s home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where some of those incidents of abuse allegedly took place. Prosecutors said at the time that authorities had seized hundreds of photos of naked or semi-nude girls and young women. Some of the photos were kept in a safe.
Defense lawyers last week tried to prevent the photos of Epstein and Maxwell from being shown in court, saying there is no testimony that the images were not altered and suggesting that it was not necessary for the government to include multiple photos among the evidence in the lawsuit. .
“It doesn’t take 20 pictures to say what two could say as well,” argued one of Maxwell’s lawyers, Laura Menninger.
But one of the prosecutors, Alison Moe, told the presiding judge that the relationship between Maxwell and Epstein is “fundamental in this case.” Because the defense has “several times tried to distance Maxwell from Epstein and his affairs by arguing that things were compartmentalized,” she says, it takes a large number of photos to show that Maxwell was much more than just an employee for Epstein.
“These photos highlight the close relationship between them over time,” said Moe. “Seeing how their hairstyles have changed, it’s clear that the people in the photo have been getting older.”
Judge Alison Nathan agreed, and the next day the photos were shown on a screen in court, visible to jurors and the public and offering a glimpse into part of Maxwell and Epstein’s private life together.
Featured by FBI analyst Kimberly Meder, many of the photos show normal, everyday scenes. Some capture moments of affection or intimacy. Maxwell is seen hugging Epstein near a pier, kissing him on a sidewalk and massaging his foot on board an airplane.
Some of the images reveal a privileged life, with hints of the wealthy environments in which Epstein and Maxwell circulated. In one of them, for example, Maxwell, in a blue plaid shirt, is resting on a porch with Epstein. According to the BBC, the photo appears to have been taken at one of the British royal family estates in Scotland.
Another photo shows Maxwell wearing a plaid wool cape from a Scottish clan and Epstein in black tie, with a wood-paneled wall in the background. In a third image, the two are sitting with a dog in a grassy field, wearing what appears to be shooting gear. Maxwell is smiling. Holding headphones in his hand and wearing tall green boots, Epstein looks more serious.
The photos don’t offer much insight into Maxwell and Epstein’s inner life. And it’s hard to predict what its impact on jurors might be.
A photo shown to the jury was included among the evidence in the case as sealed evidence, so members of the public could not see it. Meder did not elaborate on what the photo shows. But a motion filed by the prosecution identified the image in question as a photo of Epstein and Maxwell “swimming together, naked.”
Prosecutors wrote that the photo is relevant for its evidence of the relationship between the two, adding: “While the defense at trial argues that the defendant was only an employee of Epstein, this photo constitutes evidence to the contrary.”
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