Ghislaine Maxwell was the "lady of the house" at now-deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach estate, a former house manager testified at the British socialite's sex abuse trial in Manhattan federal court on Thursday. Juan Alessi, who worked full-time for Epstein from 1991 to 2002, said Maxwell was with Epstein "95% of the time" he was at the property. Maxwell, whom he called "the girlfriend of Mr. Epstein," primarily supervised him and advised him not to look the globetrotting financier in the eye, Alessi, 71, testified.
"Jeffrey doesn't like to be looked at in his eyes," Alessi recalled Maxwell telling him. "Just look at another part of the room and answer him." Alessi's testimony came on the fourth day of Maxwell's trial. Prosecutors say she recruited and groomed underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004, and participated in some of the sexual encounters.
Maxwell, 59, the daughter of late British media baron Robert Maxwell, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges. Her lawyers say prosecutors are scapegoating her because Epstein is no longer alive. He killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.
Alessi's testimony was expected to continue later on Thursday afternoon. In a previous civil case against Maxwell, Alessi testified that Maxwell routinely prepared a list of places to go for the purpose of recruiting girls to massage Epstein, and he often drove her...
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