By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex abuse trial will continue on Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said, after proceedings were unexpectedly suspended on Thursday morning because one of the lawyers involved in the case fell ill.
Prosecutors were expected to call to the stand a fourth woman who was a teenager when she says she Maxwell, now 59, groomed her for abuse by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Prosecutors have indicated they may rest their case by the end of this week. Maxwell’s defense would then have the chance to present a case.
The British socialite has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other crimes for her alleged role in setting up four teenage girls for abuse by Epstein from 1994 to 2004. Maxwell’s lawyers say she is being scapegoated because Epstein is no longer alive.
Epstein, a globetrotting investor, died by suicide at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.
The woman expected to testify on Friday was under 18 when she traveled to New Mexico to spend time with Epstein and Maxwell, according to a 2021 indictment. Maxwell allegedly took the victim shopping and gave her an unsolicited massage while the victim was topless.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan said earlier this week that she would instruct the jury that any sexual activity the woman had with Epstein was not illegal under New Mexico law because she was old enough to consent, but nonetheless would allow them to hear the woman’s testimony.
Nathan issued a similar ruling about Kate, a pseudonym for a witness who said she was 17 when Epstein first abused her in London. The two other alleged victims who testified, known as Jane and Carolyn, said they were 14 when Epstein first abused them in Florida.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry)
