NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell’s list of people who will speak in her defense Friday featured a person sick with COVID, a witness who planned to plead the Fifth and an octogenarian pub owner who is still in London, frustrating the judge on her case.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alison Nathan told Maxwell’s high-powered legal defense team that it was now or never. The British socialite needed to produce her witnesses without delay or proceed to closing arguments earlier than expected.
“If...the case closes today, it closes today,” the judge said. “I’m not delaying trial on this issue.”
The defense wanted to call the elderly owner of Nags Head pub in London, which is across the street from a townhouse where a Maxwell accuser, Kate, testified she participated in a sexualized massage at 17 with Jeffrey Epstein.
“This is a witness that is extraordinarily relevant,” argued lawyer Christian Everdell, telling the court the bar owner would poke holes in Kate’s timeline of events.
“We were able to find this person, and he was willing to come even though he’s 81.”
Another proposed defense witness, identified in court only as Kelly, had not responded to a federal subpoena. Kelly’s lawyer vowed she would invoke the Fifth Amendment if forced to testify. Maxwell’s lawyers want to question Kelly about her alleged participation in group sex.
Another witness, identified as Alexander Hamilton, had COVID, Maxwell’s attorneys said. The defense had hoped to question Hamilton about a conversation he had with Kate.
Maxwell lawyer Laura Menninger said the defense had engaged in a Herculean effort to fly people from around the world into Manhattan who would vouch for the socialite’s integrity.
“Our client’s life is on the line and we are given only half a day to put on a (defense),” Menninger said.
Assistant District Attorney Maurene Comey said the defense didn’t deserve any extra time.
“We strongly disagree with the suggestion that the defense counsel is unduly rushed here,” she said.
One witness who was present in Manhattan Federal Court was Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, former Miss Sweden, Eva Dubin.
Dubin’s billionaire husband, Glenn Dubin, has been accused of sleeping with Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre when she was a teenager. He has strenuously denied the allegations.
Eva Dubin testified she remained friends with Epstein after they broke up around 1991. She said her adult kids were close with Epstein and knew him as “Uncle F.”
In a deposition unsealed in January, Rinaldo Rizzo, a butler who worked for Dubin, said Epstein once visited the hedge fund manager’s house with a 15-year-old Swedish girl who he described as “shaking, literally quivering.”
“‘I’m Jeffrey’s executive assistant, personal assistant,’” Rizzo quoted the girl in his deposition. “She says, ‘Ghislaine took my passport.’”
The statements emerged through a civil suit brought by Giuffre against Maxwell.
As her lawyers scrambled for ways to get more witnesses on the stand, Maxwell, wearing all black, leaned on the defense table, holding her head in her hand with her elbow on the table.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges she procured minors for Epstein for a decade, aided in their trafficking, and lied about the conduct under oath.
____
