Ghislaine Maxwell attends VIP Evening of Conversation for Women’s Brain Health Initiative, Moderated by Tina Brown at Spring Studios on October 18, 2016 in New York City.
Sylvain Gaboury | Patrick McMullan | Getty Images
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell on Friday said she would not testify at her trial on federal criminal charges related to her alleged abetting of the late money manager Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls.
“Your honor, the Government has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and so there’s no reason for me to testify,” the 59-year-old Maxwell told the judge at her trial in Manhattan federal court.
Maxwell’s defense lawyers rested their case on Friday. Prosecutors said they will not present evidence or testimony to rebut the defense’s case.
Closing arguments in the trial are set for Monday. Jurors could begin deliberating Maxwell’s fate later that same day.
Ghislaine Maxwell speaks with her attorneys during the trial of Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in New York City, December 17, 2021.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Maxwell, who has been held without bail since her arrest, is charged with conspiracy to entice and coerce minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking and other charges.
Her trial began more than two years after the arrest of Epstein on child sex trafficking charges. Epstein died from what has officially been ruled a suicide by hanging while being held in a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019.
Epstein years earlier had been a friend to two former presidents, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Britan’s Prince Andrew, and a number of other wealthy, high-profile people.
One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, earlier this year sued Prince Andrew in Manhattan federal court, claiming that she had sex with the royal family member three times in London, New York and the Virgin Islands in 2001, when she was just 17 years old.
Giuffre alleges that she had sex with Andrew at the direction of Maxwell and Epstein.
