Witness takes the stand in Day Six of Maxwell’s trial

A witness using the pseudonym ‘Kate’ has taken the stand in Day Six of Ghislaine Maxwell’s high-profile sex trafficking trial. 

Under questioning from the prosecution, Kate claimed Monday that she was 17 when she was introduced to Maxwell by a boyfriend on a trip to Paris in 1994. Kate’s voice at times faltered but she spoke in a clear voice with a British accent as she described having sex with Epstein and giving him sexual massages. 

Kate, wearing a black cardigan, a dark blue blouse with white polka dots and a black skirt, is not one of the main accusers in Maxwell’s case, but has been brought in as a prosecution witness.  

She claimed Maxwell invited her to her London townhouse in the affluent area of Belgravia where Jeffrey Epstein was wearing a robe. Maxwell told her Epstein’s massage therapist had canceled and asked if she could fill in. 

Kate claimed Epstein took off his robe to reveal his naked body and Maxwell handed her massage oil and closed the door. Kate said that Epstein initiated sexual contact with her. 

After the massage, Kate claimed Maxwell asked, ‘How did it go? Did you have fun? You’re such a good girl.’

‘She sounded really pleased, and I was pleased that she was pleased,’ Kate said.  

‘Later Maxwell told me to find someone to give Epstein a b***job,’ Kate claimed, and said Maxwell told her he needed to have sex ‘three times a day.’ 

As she sat in the witness box her blonde hair was swept back in a bun.

She appeared nervous and before the hearing was sitting outside court with her eyes closed as she steadied herself. 

Maxwell appeared impassive and mostly remained sitting back in her chair.

Ghislaine Maxwell hugs her lawyer Bobbi Sternheim during her trial Monday 

‘Later Maxwell told me to find someone to give Epstein a b***job,’ Kate claimed, and said Maxwell told her he needed to have sex ‘three times a day’ 

Before Kate began to give evidence Judge Alison Nathan told the jury that because she was over the age of consent at the time she is ‘not a victim’ of the alleged crimes.

Judge Nathan said that the jury cannot convict Maxwell based on Kate’s evidence and cannot use it for assessing Maxwell’s ‘character’.

The jury can only use it for things that are ‘relevant to the issues before you’, the judge said.

As a result of the ruling Kate was not asked the particulars of her encounters with Epstein.

Kate said that in 1994 when she was 17 she was living in Belgravia in London with her mother who was ill and ‘under a lot of stress’. 

The infamous photo of Virginia Roberts, Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell was taken at Maxwell’s home in Belgravia  

Kate said she first met Maxwell in Paris on a trip with a man she was dating: at the time he was 38 and made the introduction as he knew Maxwell.

Kate said of Maxwell: ‘We spoke about the evening and where we were headed, we spoke about where I lived. We spoke about the man I was dating. She was asking me about myself’.

Kate said that Maxwell was ‘very sophisticated, very elegant and had quite short dark brown hair. She was very impressive’.

Kate estimated that Maxwell was in her early 30s at the time. Kate gave Maxwell her phone number and a few weeks later she called her.

Kate said: ‘I was quite excited to be friends with her and she was friends with the guy I was dating. She seemed very excited and she seemed to be everything I wanted to be’.

The meeting took place at Maxwell’s house in Belgravia and Kate recalled lots of pictures of Maxwell and Epstein on the walls.

Kate told Maxwell she lived alone with her mother and that her mum had migraines and she had to give her massages.

Kate said that she had a place to study law at Oxford University, which Maxwell told her she had attended. Kate said she was a musician as well and said she might pursue that and talked about how she was into athletics.

Kate said she had a ‘really lovely time’ during her meeting with Maxwell. She sighed as she said: ‘I felt really special. I felt I had found a connection that could be really meaningful to me…she seemed as excited as I was to have a new friend. I left feeling exhilarated. Like somebody wanted me. Somebody wanted to be my friend’.

Maxwell told Kate about Epstein and said that he was a ‘philanthropist who liked to help young people and that it would be really wonderful for me to meet him’.

Kate said that at the time in her life she was feeling ‘lonely’ and having just moved to the UK from France she ‘hadn’t found a group of friends’

A few weeks later Maxwell invited Kate back again to her home to meet Epstein. Kate said there was an ‘urgency’ in Maxwell’s voice and she sounded ‘activated’ as she said Epstein was in town.

Kate said: ‘She said she would love it if I could over and meet him.’

She claimed Epstein took off his robe to reveal his naked body and Maxwell handed her massage oil and closed the door. On Friday, Epstein’s massage table was brought into court 

A detective opened the dark green foldable table in front of the jury for them to see for the first time. Maxwell (pictured in a court sketch on Friday) reportedly showed no emotion 

Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim arrives at court during the sixth day of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial 

Kate arrived and Epstein was sitting in sweat pants and a hoodie and was on the phone. When he ended his call Maxwell said, according to Kate: ‘This is the girl I told you about’ and explained Kate was planning to go to Oxford and was a ‘really talented singer.’

Maxwell said Kate was ‘athletic and strong for my size’ – at the time she was 98lbs, she told the jury.

Kate said: ‘She said why don’t you give his feet a little squeeze to show him how strong you are?’

‘I massaged them. He (Epstein) seemed very approving and said you can go ahead and do my shoulders. He said I was very strong and that I seemed to know what I wanted’.

Kate’s next meeting came a couple of weeks later when Maxwell called her.

Kate said Maxwell told her that Epstein was due to get a massage but his massage therapist had ‘canceled and could I please do her a favor and help her by coming over as I had such strong hands?’

Asked by prosecutor Lara Pomerantz if Kate was a massage therapist then or now, and she said: ‘No.’

When Kate arrived at the house, she claims Maxwell told her Epstein ‘needed massages all the time and it was very difficult to keep up. She led me up the stairs and opened the door to a room that had a massage table in it. It was dimly lit. It was a small room, there was a massage table’.

Kate said that Epstein was in the room wearing a robe then he took it off and was naked.

Kate said she traveled to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion where she was given schoolgirl outfits to wear with a short skirt, white panties and white socks. Pictured is Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion submitted by the prosecution as evidence 

Asked what Maxwell did, Kate said she was ‘in the doorway facing him’ and ‘gave me some massage oil.’

Asked if somebody closed the door, Kate said: ‘Ghislaine Maxwell’.

Pomerantz asked if Epstein initiated sexual contact with Kate and performed a sex act on her, and she confirmed he did.

Kate said that afterwards she went back downstairs to be met by Maxwell.

Kate said: ‘She said: ‘How did it go? Did you have fun? Was it good?’ She seemed very excited and happy’.

A few days later Maxwell called again and invited Kate back to her house again.

When Kate walked in the door she said Maxwell told her: ‘You did such a good job last time, he wanted you to come back’.

Kate went upstairs to the same room with a massage table laid out and this time Epstein was naked. Before closing the door, Maxwell told Kate: ‘Have a good time’.

Kate confirmed that again Epstein initiated sexual contact and performed a sex act on her.

Kate testified that when she came downstairs Maxwell told her: ‘Did you have fun? You’re such a good girl. I’m so happy you were able to come….he obviously likes you a lot’.

‘She seemed really pleased. I was really pleased she was pleased’.

Asked if Kate ever saw any other girls at Maxwell’s home, she said that one time she saw a blonde girl around her age having tea with Maxwell.

Maxwell was asking her questions similar to those she had been asked during their first meeting.

When Kate asked Maxwell about the girl, she replied she that ‘I think she will be a good fit for him (Epstein).’

On her 18th birthday, Kate said she received a Prada bag from Maxwell. She said this happened after having sex with Epstein.

On her 18th birthday, Kate said she received a Prada bag from Maxwell. She said this happened after having sex with Epstein

Kate said on Monday that she was in her early 20s when she traveled to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, calling it ‘Little St. Jeff’ 

Kate said that she would continue to see Epstein until she was in her early 30s, a period of more than a decade, and Maxwell until she was around 24.

When she saw them Epstein would engage her in sexual activity ‘every time’, Kate said.

When she met Maxwell she would often talk about sexual matters, Kate said.

She said: ‘She would talk about nature, she would say boys and boy willies, which is a euphemism for penis.

‘She asked me if I knew anybody who could give Jeffrey a b***job because it was a lot for her to do.’

Another time Maxwell said to Kate: ‘You know what he likes? Cute, young and pretty like you’

Kate claims that Maxwell told her another time Epstein needed to ‘have sex about three times a day’.

Asked what Maxwell’s demeanor was like, Kate said: ‘It always felt like she was talking like a schoolgirl, like she was younger than me – it was odd. Everything was fun, everything was silly….everything seemed to be like a fun silly joke.

Kate said that she flew to see Maxwell and Epstein in Palm Beach, New York and his private island on the Caribbean, flying commercial and Maxwell would usually call her with the arrangements 

As Kate understood it, Maxwell was Epstein’s girlfriend and her job was to take care of his ‘needs’, whatever they may be.

Maxwell also managed his properties including his Palm Beach mansion which she visited around the age of 18, Kate told the jury.

Kate said that everything had to be the way Epstein liked and there were ‘a lot of rules’ to do with that.

Kate said that Maxwell used to talk about their social circle in front of her.

She said: ‘She seemed to know everybody, she told me she was friends with Prince Andrew, friends with Donald Trump, friends with lots of famous people and sometimes their names would just come up in conversation as she might be talking on the phone about them with me present’.

Kate said that she flew to see Maxwell and Epstein in Palm Beach, New York and his private island on the Caribbean, flying commercial and Maxwell would usually call her with the arrangements.

On a trip to Palm Beach when she was around 18, Kate said that she found a schoolgirl outfit on her bed.

She said: ‘It was a short, pleated skirt, white socks, white panties and a shirt. I went downstairs to find Ghislaine.

‘I asked her what happened with the clothes in my room and she said: ‘I thought it would be fun for you to take Jeffrey his tea in this outfit’.

Kate put it on and went to see Epstein, who was by the pool house working out.

She said: ‘I didn’t know how to say no. I didn’t know anybody in Florida. I had no idea even where the house was and I wasn’t sure if I did say no…what kind of consequences there might be for me.

‘Ghislaine gave me a tray and told me to go to where Jeffrey was and bring the tray.’

After she got to Epstein, Kate said that he engaged her in sexual activity.

Kate said that afterwards Maxwell ‘asked me if I had fun and told me that I was such a good girl and that I was one of his favorites.’

Kate recalled visiting Epstein’s island when she was around 23 and said that she engaged in sexual contact with him on that visit.

Kate only spoke to prosecutors in 2019 for the first time and said she wanted to give evidence under a pseudonym because she has a child and said she did not want them to be ‘associated’ with the case.

Kate said that she stayed in Epstein and Maxwell’s world for so long because she was scared about what would happen if she left or spoke out.

She said she was ‘fearful’ because of ‘how connected they both were.’

Kate admitted that in her 20s she was addicted to drugs – cocaine, sleeping pills and alcohol – but denied it had impacted her memory of these events.

Kate said that she got $3.25m from the fund for Epstein victims, but some of the money went to her lawyers.

During cross examination Maxwell’s lawyer Bobbi Sterheim asked Kate about her involvement with a man who was ‘connected to the royal family.’

She appeared to be referring to Tom Parker-Bowles, the son of the Duchess of Cornwall.

Previous reports have alleged that Kate was paid to set him up in a tabloid newspaper drug sting in 1999.

Kate admitted that the man was recorded when they met at the Cannes Film Festival but denied she recorded him. 

Sternheim said: ‘But he was recorded?’ Kate said yes. 

Sternheim said: ‘In a conversation in which you tried to get him to get you drugs?’

Kate said: ‘Yes.’

Kate denied being paid any money for the operation to which Sternheim said: ‘You just did it for free?’

Kate said: ‘Did what?’

Kate admitted that she sent Epstein emails while he was in prison in 2008 for soliciting underage girls for sex in which she offered to send him pictures of herself, though she never actually sent the images.

Kate confirmed that she signed off the emails: ‘Best love always, Kate’.

Kate admitted that in 2011 she asked to stay with Epstein, even after he had come out of prison, at his home in New York but he wasn’t there at the time, so the visit did not happen.

The last contact Kate had with Epstein was in 2012 when she became a mother, she said.

During a charged moment, Sternheim claimed that Kate told an old friend who she ran into on a plane that the Epstein case had ‘fallen into her lap’. Kate denied the claim. 

Sternheim claimed that Kate spoke to the friend, called Ray Hamilton, more recently, and bragged that the case was moving ahead and she wanted to ‘get the money and move to Italy with your child’.

Kate laughed and said: ‘No.’