Ghislaine Maxwell sits at the defense table during a hearing to discuss which expert witnesses will be able to testify at Maxwell’s upcoming sex crimes trial in New York, in this courtroom sketch on November 10, 2021.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
A former long-time pilot of sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein was called as the first witness Monday at the federal criminal trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of procuring underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein years ago.
The pilot, Larry Visoski, flew Epstein’s Boeing 727 on multiple trips, according to Florida law enforcement files obtained by NBC News. Those records appear to show he was at the controls for several flights when Maxwell and others were on board.
Visoki was called to the witness stand in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by prosecutors after opening arguments in the case.
Earlier Monday, Business Insider reported that the Federal Aviation Administration inadvertantly mailed the publication a portion of Epstein’s flight records related to 2,300 flights by four private jets registered to Epstein between 1998 and 2020. The FAA previously denied a public records request for those files.
Maxwell’s federal trial comes almost 17 months after her arrest in New Hampshire. It starts more than two years after the 66-year-old Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting his own trial on federal child sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, who has been held without bail since her arrest, has pleaded not guilty in the case. She is charged with conspiracy to entice and coerce minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking and other charges.
“I have not committed any crime,” the 59-year-old said at a Nov. 1 court hearing.
The jury for the trial was seated Monday morning.
Eighteen jurors were picked for the case. Twelve of them will deliberate on a verdict; the six others will be alternates.
Epstein, who was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, socialized along with Maxwell with high-profile people including former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew before Epstein pleaded guilty to a sex crime involving a minor in Florida in 2008.
Maxwell’s trial is expected to last about six weeks.
This trial will deal only with the sex-related charges against Maxwell. She will be tried separately for perjury charges stemming from allegations that she lied under oath while being deposed in a civil lawsuit by an Epstein accuser.
