the times | Saturday December 4 2021 19
News
witness for the prosecution,
sounded at times as if he was
testifying for the defence. Though
he recalled once meeting one of the
alleged victims, he said he thought
she was in her twenties. He
portrayed Epstein as a generous
boss who paid for the schooling of
all of his employees.
“Jane”, the first of the four
accusers, gave potent testimony,
saying that Maxwell was intimately
involved in the alleged abuse. But in
cross-examination, the defence
raised interviews she had given to
investigators in 2019. “You told the
government you had no memory of
Ghislaine being present when you
claim Epstein engaged in any sexual
contact, correct?” She replied: “Idon’t recall.” Laura Menninger, for
the defence, said Jane had named
four other women as participants in
the alleged abuse, raising the
question of why they had not
appeared in court to corroborate
her story.
There have been suggestions that
Maxwell’s lawyers would paint her a
victim too. So far, they have chosen
to portray her as a hard-working
employee of Epstein, unaware of
anything he might have done
behind closed doors.
One witness for the prosecution
has succeeded in raising doubts
about that picture. Juan Alessi, the
former manager of Epstein’s Palm
Beach mansion, testified about an
extraordinary document Maxwellhad given him, a 50-page manual
with checklists on cleaning regimes
and the fullness of soap and tissue
dispensers that seemed to outstrip
even the most demanding celebrity
“riders”. She had imposed “many,
many rules”, he said.
Jury selection included a question
about whether candidates had
anything against the wealthy that
might bias them against Maxwell,
the daughter of the disgraced
British press baron Robert Maxwell.
When they come to weigh the case,
the panel may recall the sight of
Alessi, an Ecuadorian immigrant,
telling of how he worked from 5am
until 9pm to satisfy the demands of
Maxwell, “the lady of the house”,
and all her rules.In 2012 Jeffrey Epstein announced in a
video deposition: “I’m Jeffrey Edward
Epstein and my residence address is
6,100 Red Hook Boulevard in Virgin
Islands. I have vacation homes in New
Mexico, Palm Beach, New York and
Paris.”
The billionaire’s many homes were
the face of the luxury living that lured
so many people into his orbit. They
were also locations where he allegedly
abused dozens of under-age girls and
young women.
Epstein’s properties featured promi-
nently in this week’s court hearings in
which the British socialite Ghislaine
Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, is
facing trial for sex trafficking and other
offences. She denies all the charges.
Maxwell has been accused of con-
spiring to lure and “transport” four
teenage girls to the houses in New York,
Florida and New Mexico. She was “the
lady of the house”, the prosecution said,
enforcing a “culture of silence” in the
properties and “running” them on a
daily basis.
After the suicide of the disgraced
financier in August 2019, managers of
his $600 million estate put up the
property portfolio for sale. Most of the
houses have been sold, with part of the
proceeds going to victims through a
compensation fund.
Maxwell, meanwhile, has sold her
London flat — where a photograph was
taken of the Duke of York with Virginia
Giuffre (née Roberts), one of her accus-
ers — to raise money for her legal fees.
Here is what has happened to the
properties.9 east 71st street, new york
With 40 rooms, this seven-storey
townhouse on New York’s Upper East
Side is one of the largest private homes
in Manhattan. The French neoclassical
building, previously a school, was
bought by Les Wexner, the billionaire
owner of Victoria’s Secret, for a record
$13.2 million in 1989. Wexner filled the
house with art, including paintings by
Picasso, as well as antiques, but report-
edly never moved in. Seven years later
the billionaire “gifted” it to Epstein,
according to The New York Times. The
“house of horrors”, as it was called in the
American tabloids, was sold to a former
Goldman Sachs executive in March for
$51 million.358 el brillo way, palm beach,
florida
The palm-bordered waterfront villa
was designed by the architect John Volk
in the 1950s. Epstein bought it for
$2.5 million in 1990 and spent most of
the following two decades at the prop-
erty, until he was arrested and convict-
ed for sex trafficking and procuring an
underage girl for prostitution in 2008.
The six-bedroom house, with a large
swimming pool, was sold to a local
property developer, Todd Michael
Glaser, for $18.5 million last year. He
demolished it, then listed the plot for
$29 million. It was reportedly bought by
the venture capitalist David Skok for
$26 million last month.22 avenue foch, paris
When Epstein started visiting Paris in
the 1990s he was initially staying at the
five-star hotel Le Bristol, near the
Champs Élysées. It was only in 2001Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and
some of his properties. The financier
flew by helicopter and private jet to
his Caribbean islands and a sprawling
ranch near Santa Fe. His home on
New York’s Upper East Side became
known as the “house of horrors”News
What became of
Epstein’s $600m
property empire
that he settled at this large apartment
in the chic 16th arrondissement, which
he bought for €3.5 million. The next
year he tried to buy another flat in the
same block for €2.2 million but was
outbid by a Saudi royal. Decorated by
the interior designer Alberto Pinto, the
apartment has five-metre high ceilings
and is filled with art. It has 18 rooms, in-
cluding eight bedrooms, a study and a
gym. It is listed for sale with Sotheby’s
Propriétés Parisiennes for €11.9 million.zorro ranch, new mexico
This 8,000-acre ranch, with an air strip
and helipad, sits 35 miles from Santa Fe
and was bought by Epstein in 1993. The
main three-storey, four bedroom house
was also decorated by Pinto and has an
indoor pool. Epstein visited the ranch
once or twice a year. There are four pri-
vate residences, with other structures
at the compound including a green-
house, firehouse, barn, seven-bay heat-
ed garage, lodge, log cabin, yurt and an
additional guesthouse. It is listed with
Sotheby’s Realty for $27.5 million.great st james and little
st james
Following his arrest and the 13 months
he spent in jail in 2008, Epstein started
spending more time on his private
island in the US Virgin Islands. He
bought the first island, Little St James,
for $8 million in 1998. Shortly before his
arrest in Miami, in 2007, he started
building multiple structures, including
a desalination system and a golden-
domed temple, as revealed by drone
footage posted on YouTube after his
death. There he had complete privacy;
he travelled by helicopter and private
jet and had a staff of about 70. Locals
referred to Little St James as “Paedo-
phile Island”. In 2019, the island was val-
ued at $63 million. After Epstein’s death
it emerged he had bought the 165-acre
neighbouring Great St James, for $22.
million. He purchased it through an
offshore company after the island’s
previous owner refused to sell it to
Epstein owing to his reputation as a sex
offender. The islands are at the centre
of a legal battle between the govern-
ment of the Virgin Islands, which is
seeking control of them, and Epstein’s
executors, who want to sell them.44 kinnerton street, london
(ghislaine maxwell’s house)
The three-storey, two-bedroom mews
house sits behind Hyde Park and is less
than ten minutes from Harrods.
Maxwell bought it for £290,000 in 1997
and has called it her “refuge”. It is there
that Virginia Giuffre, now 38, claims
Prince Andrew sexually abused her
when she was 17, which he unequivocal-
ly denies. Earlier this year, weeks after
Maxwell agreed an out-of-court settle-
ment with Giuffre in a defamation case,
it was revealed that Maxwell used one
of her husband’s companies to take out
a £2 million mortgage against the
house. In 2016 she sold her $15 million
house in New York’s Upper East Side, as
she struck confidential settlements
with two women who said they were
sexually exploited by Epstein. Maxwell
was arrested by the FBI last year at a
$1 million house in Bradford, New
Hampshire, which was also bought by a
company connected to her husband,
Scott Borgerson. In August she sold the
house in London to a developer for
£1.75 million.Emanuele MidoloMARCO BELLO/REUTERS; ALAMYf
h
pGhilineMaxwellandZorro Ranch, New
Mexico $27.5m