Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Jeffrey Epstein's former pilot takes the stand

New York, New York – On Monday, Ghislaine Maxwell became the first person to stand trial in connection with Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sexual abuse of young girls.

Ghislaine Maxwell is being tried on several felony counts, including trafficking underage girls.
Ghislaine Maxwell is being tried on several felony counts, including trafficking underage girls.  © Collage: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire & Landmark Media

While Monday was the official start of the trial, witness testimony picked up again on Tuesday morning with Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr., the longtime pilot for Epstein, taking the stand as the trial's first witness.

Maxwell, the 59-year-old British socialite, and ex-girlfriend of Epstein stands accused in New York's Southern District of six counts related to the sexual trafficking of girls. She is accused of recruiting and grooming four girls as young as 14 for Epstein's gratification over a decade, from 1994-2004.

She is accused of participating in the abuse of one of the girls Epstein allegedly abused herself. If convicted, Maxwell could face decades behind bars.

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During Visoski's time on the stand, the pilot testified that he never saw evidence of sexual activity transpiring on planes as he flew Epstein and company to their destinations over nearly three decades spanning from 1991-2019.

Though Visoski was called by the state to testify, his statements seem to aid the defense's case more than that of the prosecution.

When asked by Maxwell's defense attorney Christian Everdell if he ever saw sexual acts transpiring with underage females, the pilot defensively and abruptly responded, "Absolutely not."

Accusers show up to the courthouse for moral support

Ghislaine Maxwell has been held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.
Ghislaine Maxwell has been held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.  © IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

Alleged victims of Maxwell and Epstein were among the hundreds of people gathered outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan Monday and Tuesday morning, hoping to witness what they see as their first chance at justice.

"I can't believe this day has come," Sarah Ransome, a South African woman who successfully sued Maxwell and Epstein in 2017 for trafficking her when she was 22, told reporters outside the courthouse.

Maxwell's arrest in July 2020 at a New Hampshire estate, which had been purchased through an anonymous shell company months before and which she had toured using a pseudonym, came nearly one year after Epstein was arrested on federal sex charges.

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He died one month later in a federal prison in New York before his case went to trial.

Maxwell has been held in federal custody since her arrest, deemed a flight risk, and denied release on bail four separate times.

Her lawyers have argued about her conditions in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which include constant monitoring and what they have described as inedible food and undrinkable water.

At one point, one of her attorneys compared her conditions to that of the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter as portrayed in the film "The Silence of the Lambs."

In the weeks leading up to trial, Maxwell's legal team and federal prosecutors have fought to define the boundaries of what could be discussed before the jury.

Maxwell's team won partial victories in limiting the testimony of two of the four accusers but lost their bid to block prosecutors from referring to the accusers as "victims."

Maxwell has pled not guilty to the charges against her.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire & Landmark Media

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