The fate of Ghislaine Maxwell is now squarely in the hands of a jury.
The jury received the case in Ms Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial just before 5pm on Monday in New York City, after prosecutors and Maxwell’s defence attorneys delivered closing arguments.
For their time US prosecutors urged a New York jury to convict Ms Maxwell of the sex trafficking of minors, saying in that the British socialite was a “sophisticated predator who knew exactly what she was doing".
Ms Maxwell faces an effective life sentence if found guilty of six counts of recruiting and grooming young girls to be abused by late financier Jeffrey Epstein, her long-time companion.
“It is time to hold her accountable,” prosecutor Alison Moe said, summing up the government's case following almost three weeks of evidence in the high-profile trial in Manhattan.
American money-manager Epstein killed himself in jail two years ago while awaiting his own sex crimes trial.
Ms Moe said Ms Maxwell was “the key” to Epstein's scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them.
“They were partners in crime,” she told the 12-person jury.
Lawyers for Ms Maxwell said she was an “innocent woman” and that prosecutors had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms Maxwell was aware of or involved in the late financier's alleged crimes.
“They certainly proved to you that Epstein had abused his money and his power,” defence lawyer Laura Menninger said. “That has nothing to do with Ghislaine and everything to do with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Two of Ms Maxwell's accusers said they were as young as 14 when she allegedly began grooming them and arranging for them to give massages to Epstein that ended in sexual activity.
One, identified only as “Jane”, detailed how Ms Maxwell recruited her at summer camp and made her feel “special".
She said sexual encounters with Epstein became routine, with Ms Maxwell sometimes present.
Another, going by “Carolyn”, said she was usually paid $300 after sexual encounters with Epstein, often by Ms Maxwell herself.
The defence has sought to portray the accounts of her four accusers as not credible. Ms Menninger said the women were motivated to implicate Ms Maxwell by the prospect of a payout from a victim's compensation fund run by Epstein's estate.
“The money brought the accusers to the FBI,” Ms Menninger said, claiming the women brought personal injury lawyers with them to interviews with law enforcement agents decades after the alleged abuse occurred.
“Memories have been manipulated in aid of the money.”
The conspiracy to commit the sex trafficking of minors carries a maximum 40-year sentence. The lesser charges have terms of five or 10 years.
Agencies contributed to this report
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
