NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor says Ghislaine Maxwell and the late Jeffrey Epstein were partners in crime in the sexual abuse of teenage girls. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz told the New York jury in opening statements Monday at Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial that she is accused of recruiting and grooming girls for the financier to abuse from 1994 to 2004. Defense lawyer Bobbi Sternheim countered in an opening statement that the 59-year-old British socialite was being made a scapegoat after Epstein killed himself two years ago. Maxwell used to date Epstein and has been jailed in Brooklyn since her arrest. She says she is innocent.
Photo: In this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell enters the courtroom escorted by U.S. Marshalls at the start of her trial, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in New York. Two years after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide behind bars, a jury is set to be picked Monday in New York City to determine a central question in the long-running sex trafficking case: Was his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s puppet or accomplice? (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)
