Follow the New York Post’s live coverage in the trial of alleged Jeffrey Epstein madam Ghislaine Maxwell, which began last week in Manhattan Federal Court.
Happy Monday. A reminder that the Ghislaine Maxwell trial doesn't resume until Thursday. On Friday, prosecutors rested their case after calling the final accuser, Annie Farmer, to the stand. Defense is up next -- and no word yet on whether jurors will hear straight from the disgraced British socialite herself. We will return with live updates from the courtroom on Thursday. The trial broke for the week soon before 5 p.m. on Friday after prosecutors rested their case. The trial will pickup again next Thursday. Judge Nathan has scheduling conflict that requires a three-day break at the beginning of the week. On Friday, the fourth Maxwell accuser, Annie Farmer, testified about how she was lured to Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16 years old in 1996. Farmer said Maxwell massaged her nude breasts after bringing a massage table into her room and asking her to strip down.Trial back on Thursday
By leustachewichnyp Week No. 2 is a wrap
By Ben Feuerherd
The prosecution in the trial rested Friday afternoon, about two weeks after the trial began last Monday.
Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe made the announcement in court after Annie Farmer, the fourth and final Maxwell accuser testified earlier in the day.
NEW: Prosecutors in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial rest their case.
— Ben Feuerherd (@benfeuerherd) December 10, 2021
They called about two dozen witnesses, including four Maxwell accusers, over two weeks.
Other witnesses included former Epstein pilots, a longtime housekeeper and current and former law enforcement officials
Prosecutors have called both Annie Farmer's mother and her high school ex-boyfriend to corroborate her testimony.
The ex-boyfriend, David Mulligan, said he remembered Farmer telling him about her trip to New Mexico when Maxwell allegedly touched her breasts during a massage when she was 16 years old.
Her mother, Janice Swain, said she spoke to Jeffrey Epstein before Farmer went on the trip -- and the financier said about two dozen students would be visiting his ranch that weekend.
Epstein told Swain that his that "wife," Ghislaine Maxwell, would be chaperoning girls who attended the trip, she said.
Defense attorney Laura Menninger questioned Annie Farmer about the massage she described to prosecutors earlier today -- and raised the fact that Maxwell did not touch her nipples during the rubdown.
"She did not touch my nipples," Farmer responded to Menninger when asked which part of her breasts Maxwell touched during the massage when she was 16 years old.
Farmer earlier told prosecutor Lara Pomerantz that she felt "frozen" when Maxwell asked her to strip naked and then rubbed her "upper breasts" during a massage at Epstein's New Mexico ranch in 1996.
Menninger also asked Farmer if Epstein pressed his "erect penis" into her back when he cuddled her one morning during her weekend trip to New Mexico.
Farmer responded that he had not.
Judge Nathan called a break for lunch soon before 12:30 p.m., as defense attorney Laura Menninger questioned Annie Farmer about her recollection of her time in New Mexico with Epstein and Maxwell in 1996.
Menninger raised that Farmer had written in her journal as a teenager about her trip to New York when she first met Epstein -- but no journal entry for her trip to New Mexico exists.
Farmer testified earlier that Maxwell felt her breasts while she was naked as she gave her a massage at Epstein's ranch in 1996 when she was 16 years old.
Annie Farmer said Ghislaine Maxwell touched her naked breasts while the accused madam was giving her a massage at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16 years old.
The accuser, who met Epstein through her sister in New York in 1996, said she felt comfortable traveling to the ranch in part because she knew Maxwell would be there and understood her to be Epstein's romantic partner.
At the ranch, Maxwell asked to give her a massage and requested she strip naked before the rubdown.
During the massage, Maxwell asked her to flip over and began rubbing her breasts, Farmer said.
"She pulled the sheet down and exposed my breasts. She started rubbing on my chest and on my upper bresats," she said, adding that she felt "frozen."
The fourth and final Maxwell accuser, Annie Farmer, has taken the stand on what is expected to be the final day of the prosecution's case.
Farmer, who has spoken publicly about her alleged abuse by Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, is the only accuser to testify under her full name.
Prior to her testimony, Judge Nathan told jurors that Farmer is expected to testify about sexual contact she had with Epstein and Maxwell in New Mexico.
Nathan said jurors were not to consider the contact in New Mexico as "illegal sexual activity" as prosecutos charged in the indictment.
Testimony in the trial will resume Friday morning at 9 a.m. after proceedings were abruptly cut short Thursday because an attorney on the case became sick, the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.
The trial was adjourned for the day at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday after prosecutors requested to speak with the judge and Maxwell's defense team in the robing room.
After the meeting, Judge Alison Nathan informed the jury they needed to break for the day because of the health scare.
Before the break, a FedEx paralegal had testified that documents show Maxwell accuser Carolyn had receieved packages from New York -- but none of them listed the accused madam as the sender.
Judge Nathan adjourned the trial for the rest of Thurday at about 10:30 a.m. because an attorney in the case is ill and "needs care."
Nathan's order came after prosecutors and the defense met for an extended discussion in the robing room that was requested by the prosecution. The sick attorney was not identified.
"We have no reason to believe it is covid related," Nathan said before letting the jury go for the day.
BREAKING: an attorney in the Maxwell case is ill and the trial will break for the day.
— Ben Feuerherd (@benfeuerherd) December 9, 2021
No reason to believe it's covid related, judge Nathan says
The first witness today was Tracy Chapell, a FedEx employee who testified about packages sent from Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan address to one of Ghislaine Maxwell's accusers in Palm Beach, Florida, in the early 2000s.
The alleged victim, Carolyn, told the jury on Tuesday that Epstein sent her lingerie and other gifts, including a "massage for dummies" book and tickets to see California rock bank Incubus.
Carolyn, who was a teenager at the time, said that she had given Maxwell her address "Because Jeffrey Epstein wanted to send me some items."
Defense attorneys, however, got Chapell to acknowledge that none of the invoices shown in court listed Maxwell as the sender of any packages to Carolyn.
Day 8 of Ghislaine Maxwell's trial saw prosecutors release several photos of the British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein canoodling to underscore the argument that the two were "partners in crime."
-- See the photos here, including some of Maxwell rubbing Epstein's feet on what appears to be his private jet.
-- Prosecutors also called David Rodgers, one of Epstein's longtime pilots, and quizzed him about some of the 1,000 flights he flew for the late sex offender.
-- A witness going by the name Shawn also took the stand to back up the testimony of one of Maxwell's accusers, Carolyn. Read more about what she alleges here.
