Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers to grill ex-Epstein employee who testified about underage girls

[December 03, 2021]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ghislaine Maxwell's defense attorneys on Friday were expected to challenge the account of a former Jeffrey Epstein employee who testified that he drove two girls who he believed appeared underage to the late financier's Palm Beach estate.

Juan Alessi, who worked full-time for Epstein from 1991 to 2002, said at Maxwell's sex abuse trial on Thursday that he saw the two girls spend time with Epstein and Maxwell at the property, where he recalled cleaning sex toys from Epstein's massage room and storing them in Maxwell's bathroom.

The British socialite's attorneys were set to cross-examine Alessi, 71, during the fifth day of testimony in the case.

Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other crimes, including two perjury charges that will be tried at a later date.

Prosecutors accuse Maxwell of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse, and say she participated in some of the encounters.

Her attorneys argue she is being scapegoated for Epstein's alleged crimes since the globetrotting investor is no longer alive. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking, enters the court followed by U.S. court marshalls during her trial in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S., December 2, 2021. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Alessi's account came after testimony earlier this week from one of the girls he said he saw at Epstein's estate: A woman now in her early 40s testifying under the pseudonym Jane who said Maxwell set her up for abuse by Epstein while she was 14, 15 and 16 in the mid-1990s.

Jane is the first of four Maxwell accusers expected to testify in the trial. Maxwell's attorneys questioned Jane about discrepancies between her testimony and earlier statements she made during interviews with law enforcement agents, and have said the women's memories have become distorted over time.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Sandra Maler)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.