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Ghislaine Maxwell declined to testify Friday as her lawyers ended her defense of the sex appeal two days later.
“Honorable members, the government has not confirmed his case without a doubt, so there is no need for me to testify,” he said. Maxwell, 59, said Friday afternoon after Judge Alison Nathan gave him ample opportunity to testify in his defense.
This was the first time Maxwell had been in court for almost three weeks. The case is being re-assigned to another court, which will begin on Monday.
Maxwell did not expect to testify – a family spokesman told U.S. reporters earlier this week that he was “too weak” to do so because of the torture in prison.
But the shortening of his defense surprised his lawyers when he told the court a few days ago that he wanted to call 35 witnesses. In the end, he called only nine. Among them was a fictional psychologist, who had previously testified on behalf of the infamous filmmaker Harvey Weinstein.
Defendant also summoned several women who had worked for the New York office of Jeffrey Epstein, a late sex worker who was Maxwell’s secret. They all agreed when asked if they did not work or stay long in public buildings in Palm Beach or New York where they abused many young women.
Laura Menninger, one of Maxwell’s attorneys, pleaded with Friday morning that she would have more time to gather witnesses. “Our client’s life is in danger,” he told Judge Nathan, who denied the request.
The government claims that Maxwell, a British woman and the daughter of a journalist named Robert Maxwell, helped to document Epstein’s victims, and in some cases, his brutality. He did so, he says, in order to maintain a high standard of living for the common jet and luxury houses offered by Epstein.
He denied the wrongdoing. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
The most famous witness Friday was Eva Dubin, Epstein’s former colleague. A former Swedish mother met him in the 1980s and remained friendly after marrying hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin in 1994. Dubin told judges that his three children saw Epstein as an uncle, calling him “Uncle F”. He made her the father of one of their daughters.
Dubin said he would not recall meeting a state witness, named “Jane”, who had previously testified that Epstein began abusing him when he was 14 years old. showed that “Jane” flew on Epstein and Dubins’ secret jet in 1998.
Jane testified that she had had sex with Epstein and others including a woman who believed in “Eva”. However, Dubin denied that he had “had sexual relations with her in public,” saying: “No.”
After questioning him, Dubin, aged 60, admitted that he had memory problems because of his health. “It’s very difficult for me to remember everything when I’m away. Sometimes I can’t remember last month’s things,” she said. “My family realizes. I realize that. It’s been a problem.”
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