The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

18 2GMK1 Saturday December 4 2021 | the times

News

Working under Ghislaine Maxwell was
akin to “slavery”, the former manager
of Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach man-
sion told a court in New York.
Juan Alessi, 71, who worked at the
house from 1992 to 2002, said that Max-
well sought to impose a manual of
house rules setting out how the house
should be run. It included how staff

Doubts over

prosecution

after week 1

Analysis

S

peaking in his own defence a

few years ago, Abu Hamza

complained that he stood

little chance against federal

prosecutors from New York’s

southern district (Will Pavia

writes). They could convict a man

for “killing the Dead Sea”, the

extremist cleric, who is now serving

a whole-life sentence, said. This was

more or less the expectation of

many who came to watch the trial

of Ghislaine Maxwell, whose name

had been tarnished by allegations

relating to her long association with

Jeffrey Epstein.

Instead, the first week of

Maxwell’s trial has put the strength

of the case in question. The young

team of prosecutors offered a

surprisingly brief opening

statement, overshadowed by a

powerful hour-long presentation by

Maxwell’s lawyer Bobbi Sternheim,

casting the defendant as only the

latest woman, since Eve, to be

blamed for the crimes of a man.

Epstein’s former pilot, the first

Maxwell manual told workers

‘to see, hear and say nothing’

more than 50 pages long. Alessi said it

was largely the same as the rule book

Maxwell gave him in 2001 or 2002.

“This manual is designed to give you

the proper guidance and assistance to

perform your duties to the best of your

ability, while ensuring a consistently

high level of service,” its introduction

said. “By using your communications

skills, listening and observing, you will

be able to anticipate the needs of Mr

Epstein, Ms Maxwell and their guests.”

A later set of bullet points said: “Re-

member that you see nothing, hear

nothing, say nothing, except to answer

a question directed to you. Respect

their privacy.”

Prosecutors allege that Maxwell

imposed strict rules on staff at Epstein’s

properties, enforcing a “culture of

silence” that allowed her and Epstein

to sexually abuse teenage girls

behind closed doors. She denies

all of the charges.

One of the alleged victims,

who has been given the pseu-

donym Jane, told the court on

Tuesday that she had been

brought to the house at the

age of 14, in 1994, where she

was made to engage in series

of steadily escalating sexual-

ised massages in a bathroom

beside Epstein’s bedroom.

On Friday jurors were shown

photographs of the inside of the

Palm Beach house along with its

master bedroom and adjoining bath-

rooms, taken during a police raid in

2005.

Officers found that computers in the

home were missing their hard drives,

Sergeant Michael Dawson, of the Palm

Beach Police Department, said. The

officers recovered massage tables,

“photographs of a nude female” and a

sex toy. “I seized what’s called the Twin

Torpedoes,” he said.

Prosecutors had a green massage

table that was seized during the raid

brought in and unfolded in the well of

the court.

The jury were also shown a video of

the search, which remained under seal.

Judge Alison Nathan asked that the

majority of the video be published next

week, after brief redactions had been

made, following complaints from Bobbi

Sternheim, Maxwell’s defence lawyer,

that keeping it from public view created

the false impression that it showed “a

domicile of debauchery”.

Before the jury was brought in yes-

terday, the judge ruled that they could

be shown pictures of a collection of

“small” schoolgirl outfits found at

Epstein’s New York townhouse because

it proved his “interest in underage girls”.

The trial continues.

News Maxwell trial

should dress, how they should speak to

Epstein and Maxwell and to ensure that

the bedside table in the master bed-

room was stocked with bottled water,

eye masks and a gun.

Alessi ran the house with help from

his wife. He said the pages of checklists

and requirements entailed “work for

ten people, not one and a half”.

The jury has been shown parts of a

2004 manual for the house, which was

Will Pavia New York

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The court has

been told that

Virginia Giuffre

had been a

passenger on

Epstein’s aircraft