Maxwell ‘groped teenage girl and told her she had great body for Epstein’
Maxwell denies luring young girls to Epstein’s massage rooms between 1994 and 2004.
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Ghislaine Maxwell groped a 14-year-old girl who had told her she had been raped and molested at the age of four, a court heard.
One of the British socialite’s accusers, who testified under the pseudonym “Carolyn”, said the defendant had told her she “had a great body for (Jeffrey) Epstein and his friends”.
Maxwell, 59, is accused of luring young girls to massage rooms to be molested by Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
Carolyn told jurors she had been introduced to Epstein through Duke of York accuser Virginia Roberts – and said she was in the same room when Ms Roberts had sex with the disgraced financier.
On Monday at the Federal court in the Southern District of New York the witness said Maxwell touched her breasts in Epstein’s massage room before telling her she had a “great body type”.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel Jeffrey Pagliuca, Carolyn said she saw a “nude and pregnant” photo of Maxwell, including one of her naked and “laid on the lawn”.
Asked by Assistant United States Attorney Maurene Comey what conversations she had had with Maxwell about her upbringing, Carolyn said: “I remember telling her I had been raped and molested… starting at the age of four.”
Addressing what she said when the defendant invited her to Epstein’s private island, the witness said: “I told her that I was too young and there was no way in hell my mum was going to let me leave the country.”
Asked if she told Maxwell her age, Carolyn said: “I told her I was 14.”
“After you told her you were 14, did she continue to schedule massage with Epstein?”
“Yes.”
Carolyn told the jury she had informed Maxwell she wanted to be a massage therapist.
Asked if the defendant had ever spoken about sex toys with her, Carolyn said: “She asked me if I ever used them and I told her no.”
“What if any conversations do you remember having about your breast and hip size?”
“I was just setting up the massage table… and at that point I was getting fully nude and she came in and felt my boobs and my hips and my buttocks and said I had a great body for Mr Epstein and his friends.
“She just said that I had a good body type.”
“Did she touch you?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she touch you?”
“On my breasts.”
“After that did she leave the massage room?”
“Yes.”
“And then who came in?”
“Mr Epstein.”
“After you set up the massage table, what would you do with your clothes?”
“I would take them off.”
Carolyn told jurors she initially took her clothes off and left her underwear on, but that changed over time when she would massage Epstein fully nude.
“Other than Jeffrey Epstein, who else saw you fully naked?”
“In the massage room, Maxwell, two of Mr Epstein’s friends and two girls… I don’t know who they were.”
“How many times did Maxwell see you fully naked in the massage room?”
“About three times.”
“Was one of those times when she touched your breasts?”
“Yes.”
“About how old were you when she touched your breasts?”
“I was going on 15… I was 14.”
Carolyn then told jurors she was photographed naked at Epstein’s house and was paid 500-600 dollars for it.
Asking about what happened in the massage room with Epstein, Ms Comey asked: “For the first 45 minutes, what would you do?”
“I would massage him.”
Questioned on what they would talk about during the massage, Carolyn said: “There were conversations about my life and my upbringing.
“I said that my mum was an alcoholic.
“I told him I had been molested and raped.”
The witness said she was paid 300-400 dollars after each massage – and said Maxwell had handed her cash on a couple of occasions.
Asked if she ever received gifts from Epstein, Carolyn said: “I received lingerie from Victoria Secret.”
“Why did you give your address to Maxwell?”
“Because Jeffrey Epstein wanted to send me some items. I wasn’t sure what the items were going to be.”
The witness said she also received a “massage book for dummies” and concert tickets to see the band Incubus from Epstein.
Continuing her questioning, Ms Comey asked: “Other than Virginia, were there ever any other females with you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever bring friends to Epstein’s house?”
“Yes.”
“About how many friends?”
“Two or three.”
“Why did you bring friends to Jeffrey Epstein’s house?”
“He asked me if I had any friends who were my age or younger.”
Carolyn said she was paid double the money her friends were paid for the massages because she had brought them to the house.
Explaining what happened after the first 45 minutes of the massage, the witness said Epstein would turn over and perform a sex act on himself.
“How many times did he touch your breasts?”
“Every time.”
“How many times did he touch your buttocks?”
“Every time.”
Carolyn said when her friends were also in the room, he would touch their breasts and buttocks as well.
The witness continued: “He tried one time to use a vibrating thing on me and I immediately told him I am not comfortable with that.”
Asked who else Epstein had brought into the room, Carolyn said: “On two separate occasions a girl came in who was already fully nude.
“Jeffrey was having sex with her while the female performed oral sex on me.”
The witness said Epstein had tried to have sex with her twice, but she told him she “wasn’t comfortable with that”.
Carolyn then choked up after telling the court the money she made from the massages would be spent on drugs.
She told jurors she had gone back to Epstein’s house after becoming a mother around four or five times.
The witness said: “He asked me if I had any younger friends and I said no, and that’s when I realised that I was too old.”
“How old were you?”
“18.”
During cross-examination from Mr Pagliuca, Carolyn said her “soul is broken” after her encounters with Maxwell, telling jurors she was “devastated”.
In a heated exchange during the end of Tuesday’s session, the witness broke down and cried before saying: “What she did was wrong. She takes vulnerable young girls and trafficks them.”
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
The death was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell, who has been held in a US jail since her arrest in July last year, denies all charges.
The trial continues.