Prosecutors Allege Ghislaine Maxwell Groomed Teenage Girls in 'Pyramid Scheme of Abuse'

On the first day of Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial in connection with Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex-trafficking ring, federal prosecutors argued that the British socialite groomed teenage girls for him in “a pyramid scheme of abuse.”

“She was in on it from the start,” Prosecutor Lara Pomerantz told jurors, per AP. “The defendant and Epstein lured their victims with a promise of a bright future, only to sexually exploit them.”

Pomerantz also argued that Maxwell “played an essential role in” helping Epstein abuse girls, Insider reports. “She knew exactly what she was doing. She was dangerous. She was setting young girls up to be molested by a predator. That’s what we expect the evidence will show.”

Maxwell was arrested in July at her mansion in New Hampshire. The original indictment claims she allegedly “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse” them.

Maxwell has plead not guilty to the charges against her and was denied bail prior to the start of her trial.

Epstein was found dead in his prison cell on Aug. 10, 2019. According to court documents, the 66-year-old was placed on suicide watch sometime that July, after he was found unconscious with a bedsheet around his neck; however, a post-suicide watch report painted Epstein as a cooperative inmate who had no intentions of killing himself.

Though the New York medical examiner declared his death a suicide by hanging, some conspiracy theorists remain convinced, without evidence, that Epstein was murdered in an effort to prevent his testimony against his high-profile associates.