NEW YORK — Never-before-published photos introduced Wednesday in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial show the British publishing heiress grinning as she massages Jeffrey Epstein’s feet on his private airplane.
The photos were brought into evidence as the government prepared to rest its case.
The FBI retrieved the undated images from CDs at Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion after his 2019 arrest. They show the accused child predators in unguarded moments.
In one, Epstein is sitting on a private jet wearing a gray hoodie unzipped and nothing underneath. Maxwell sits across from the multimillionaire wealth manager, with his right leg outstretched resting on hers.
The photos included a trove of images documenting Maxwell and Epstein’s romantic relationship throughout the years.
Prosecutors say the candid shots show Maxwell was not merely the financier’s assistant, as her defense has suggested, and that they were in an intimate relationship.
“Throughout this trial, the defense has repeatedly tried to distance Ms. Maxwell from Mr. Epstein and his affairs and argue that things were compartmentalized,” Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe explained Monday as she asked the judge to admit the photos to evidence.
“Given the change in hairstyles, the people in the photographs are clearly aging throughout time, I think that relationship and its duration throughout time is evident from the photographs themselves.”
The FBI discovered the pictures when they searched Epstein’s East 71st Street townhouse, which was once estimated to be worth $77 million.
Agents found more photos during the search on a disc in a safe with handwritten labels like “Misc nudes 1″ and “Girl pics nude.” According to court documents, one featured an alleged victim’s name, preceded by “young.”
FBI agent Stephen Flatley on Tuesday told jurors about word document files on the hard drive that had been authored in 2002 under the username “Gmax.”
The files detailed everything from the strength of Maxwell and Epstein’s relationship to the condition of his bathroom.
“Jeffrey and Ghislaine have been together, a couple for the last 11 years. They are, contrary to what many people think, rarely apart — I almost always see them together,” read one file, whose purpose was unclear.
“Ghislaine is highly intelligent, and great company with a ready smile and an infectious laugh who always puts one at one’s ease, and always makes one feel welcome,” read another entry from “Gmax” found on the hard drive.
The hard drive also turned up an apparent homemade ad seeking more “massage therapists” for Epstein.
“Help wanted. Are you a massage therapist? Work in Palm Beach home. EXCELLENT PAY. Mostly weekends,” read the file.
Witnesses have described Maxwell as Epstein’s girlfriend and “lady of the house,” and one who imposed strict rules regarding how the multimillionaire’s home attendants should behave.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges she groomed young girls to have sex with Epstein and trafficked them around the world for sex. She argues that the feds have wrongly substituted her for the financier after he killed himself while in custody.
Her lawyers say she is unfairly being blamed for the actions of a “narcissistic” Epstein. They have accused Maxwell’s accusers of being driven by financial greed.
On Wednesday, the jury heard from a Florida man who said he drove minors to the multimillionaire’s Palm Beach, Florida, mansion in the 1990s.
The witness, who testified under his first name only, Shawn, testified as a corroborating witness for Carolyn. She told jurors she was 14 when Maxwell and Epstein began sexually abusing her.
Shawn said he started dating Carolyn when she was around 14 and he was 17. He simultaneously dated two other teenage girls, both of whom he would for years drop off and pick up from Epstein’s south Florida home.
He told the jury about waiting in the driveway while the girls were inside. They would leave with cash and sometimes underwear, he said.
“When Carolyn was 14 years old and going to Jeffrey Epstein’s house, could you describe her level of intelligence and education?” Pomerantz asked the witness.
“She was a child,” Shawn responded. “Yes, ma’am.”
———
©2021 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
