Maxwell to challenge accusers, seek distance from Epstein at sex abuse trial | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
May 31, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2025
Maxwell to challenge accusers, seek distance from Epstein at sex abuse trial

USA

Reuters
23 November, 2021, 06:15 pm
Last modified: 23 November, 2021, 06:16 pm

Related News

  • Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's untimely death leaves unanswered questions
  • Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre dies by suicide: family
  • Epstein files: Full list of names in disgraced financier's contact book released by Pam Bondi
  • US Attorney General hopes to release Epstein-related flight logs, names on Thursday
  • Epstein invoked 5th Amendment right to silence 600 times

Maxwell to challenge accusers, seek distance from Epstein at sex abuse trial

Epstein died by suicide at 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges

Reuters
23 November, 2021, 06:15 pm
Last modified: 23 November, 2021, 06:16 pm
Ghislaine Maxwell makes eye contact with her sister during jury selection in the trial of Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's associate accused of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
Ghislaine Maxwell makes eye contact with her sister during jury selection in the trial of Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's associate accused of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell's defense in her sex abuse trial will focus on undermining her accusers and distancing her from Jeffrey Epstein, the financier for whom she is charged with recruiting underage girls, according to legal experts and court filings.

In what is viewed by some legal experts as a risky strategy in the post-#MeToo era, Maxwell's lawyers will question the credibility of four women who say she groomed them as teenagers for Epstein to abuse from the 1990s to the early 2000s, arguing that their memories are faulty or that they are lying because of financial incentives. They have said in a court filing that one woman was motivated by a "desire for cash."

Epstein died by suicide at 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"[Maxwell's lawyers] want to say the real villain is no longer around to be prosecuted, so they're using her as a scapegoat," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Jury selection is underway in Manhattan federal court for Maxwell's trial, with opening statements scheduled for Nov. 29.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight charges including sex trafficking.

Her lawyers have argued that prosecutors, unable to convict Epstein because of his death, are seeking to "substitute" Maxwell in order to hold someone responsible.

"Left with no fish to attempt to fry, the government belatedly turned to Ms. Maxwell," her lawyers wrote in a Feb. 4 filing.

The office of US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the case against Maxwell, declined to comment. Maxwell's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Jeffrey Pagliuca, a lawyer for Maxwell, said at a Nov. 10 hearing that the defense would question the women who say they were abused about why they waited so many years to come forward.

Two of the women - Annie Farmer and another who will testify under a pseudonym - did not accuse Maxwell of wrongdoing until long after Epstein's alleged abuses, according to Maxwell's defense.

A diary Farmer kept in the 1990s describing interactions with Epstein did not mention Maxwell, and the unidentified witness said nothing about Maxwell until June when prosecutors showed her a photograph, the lawyers said.

Psychologist testimony 

The defense will in part rely on the expert testimony of Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist who studies how memories can become distorted over time.

There are risks for the defense team, some lawyers said, particularly since the #MeToo movement in which women accused powerful men of sexual harassment and abuse.

"Victim shaming ... doesn't work especially now in 2021, and it usually hurts you," said Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a New York defense attorney who specializes in sex crimes cases. "You have to show the utmost empathy in my opinion to people who have been victimized."

Maxwell's defense also has indicated that they intend to argue the women are belatedly accusing Maxwell because of the possibility of a payout.

All four accusers have accepted payment from a victims' compensation fund established by Epstein's estate, Maxwell's attorneys said in a court filing.

"The motive for fabrication could not be clearer," Laura Menninger, another Maxwell lawyer, wrote in connection with a civil lawsuit Farmer filed against Epstein's estate. Farmer dropped that case when she sought compensation from the victims' fund.

"Her newly asserted memories of abuse - without corroboration - are not based on the truth or a desire for 'justice' so much as her desire for cash."

Lawyers for Farmer did not reply to a request for comment.

Legal experts said that the prosecution would not have brought the case unless they had believed the women could withstand attacks on their credibility.

"I don't think they go after her unless they have these women able to really put her in the crosshairs, and to situate her at the centre of this," said Deborah Tuerkheimer, a professor at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law in Chicago.

World+Biz

Maxwell sex crimes trial / Jeffrey Epstein / Ghislaine Maxwell / sex crimes

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus meets Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Japan on 30 May 2025. Photo: CA Office
    Bangladesh, Japan to sign Economic Partnership Agreement by year-end
  • File photo of BNP BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury
    Speaking about country’s problems in foreign trips won’t solve them: Khasru takes jibe at Yunus
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    'Heavy to very heavy' rainfall expected across country as land depression weakens further

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Courtesy
    New notes featuring historic, archaeological structures of Bangladesh to be circulated from 1 June
  • Two Memoranda of Understanding were signed at the seminar titled “Bangladesh Seminar on Human Resources,” in Tokyo on 29 May 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Japan to recruit 100,000 Bangladeshi workers over next 5 years
  • BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
    BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
  • Representational Photo: Collected
    Country's all jewellery shops to remain indefinitely closed in protest of VP Reponul's arrest: Bajus
  • Khondoker Rashed Maqsood. File Photo: Collected
    Investors urge removal of BSEC chairman in meeting with CA’s special assistant, submit list of demands
  • Illustration: TBS
    Bangladesh repays $3.5b foreign debt in 10 months of FY25

Related News

  • Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's untimely death leaves unanswered questions
  • Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre dies by suicide: family
  • Epstein files: Full list of names in disgraced financier's contact book released by Pam Bondi
  • US Attorney General hopes to release Epstein-related flight logs, names on Thursday
  • Epstein invoked 5th Amendment right to silence 600 times

Features

Babar Ali, Ikramul Hasan Shakil, and Wasfia Nazreen are leading a bold resurgence in Bangladeshi mountaineering, scaling eight-thousanders like Everest, Annapurna I, and K2. Photos: Collected

Back to 8000 metres: How Bangladesh’s mountaineers emerged from a decade-long pause

9h | Panorama
Photos: Courtesy

Behind the looks: Bangladeshi designers shaping celebrity fashion

11h | Mode
Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar

Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

15h | Features
For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

1d | The Big Picture

More Videos from TBS

Six Lakh Sacrificial Animals Ready in Sirajganj for Eid-ul-Adha

Six Lakh Sacrificial Animals Ready in Sirajganj for Eid-ul-Adha

5h | TBS Stories
Six MoUs signed during Chief Advisor's visit to Japan

Six MoUs signed during Chief Advisor's visit to Japan

9h | TBS Today
Record migrant deaths in 2024

Record migrant deaths in 2024

1d | Podcast
Govt likely to trim subsidies in new budget

Govt likely to trim subsidies in new budget

12h | TBS Insight
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net