Ghislaine Maxwell has never conceded an inch in her insistence that she’s no grubby criminal and, on the first day of her trial yesterday, she certainly wasn’t about to start.
As she arrived to hear opening statements for a case that could see her spend the rest of her life behind bars, gone was the hunched, confused victim of jailhouse brutality seen at previous court appearances when she was trying to win bail.
She almost breezed into Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. Followed by two female guards, the drab blue prison uniform of previous court appearances was replaced by an expensive-looking beige cashmere jumper, black trousers, heels and a white Covid mask.
Once inside the cavernous Courtroom 318 in downtown Manhattan, which is famous as the venue for its terrorist trials, the British socialite gave affectionate hugs to each of her four high-powered lawyers.
Where the alleged abuse took place. For Maxwell, followed by two female guards, the drab blue prison uniform of previous court appearances was replaced by an expensive-looking beige cashmere jumper, black trousers, heels and a white Covid mask today
Maxwell, 59, who is accused of procuring underage girls for pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is set to stand trial on sex trafficking charges on November 29. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges
Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking trial has begun today in New York where the 59-year-old socialite faces 80 years in prison if convicted. She's pictured embracing her defense lawyers
A tactile person, at least with her attorneys, Maxwell would frequently lean over them, resting her hand appreciatively on the small of their back as the morning progressed with final pre-trial delays.
She then waved to her beret-clad sister Isabel, who lives in the US and who has been representing the family in court at previous hearings, just yards away in the front row of the public seats.
Sitting next to Isabel was another ally, Leah Saffian, longtime Maxwell family lawyer and old friend of Ghislaine. Maxwell often glanced in their direction during the day but they didn’t always appear to see her.
Maxwell's legal team has repeatedly made claims about her alleged mistreatment behind bars. She is shown in prison earlier this year with 'a black eye'
Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim took the floor to deliver the defense's presentation, saying she is 'proud' to represent Maxwell
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and other charges and has been awaiting trial for over a year in 'hell-hole' Brooklyn prison
In what may have been a reflection of her nervous energy or else a determined attempt not to let her uneasiness show, Maxwell was often a ball of energy as she feverishly wrote out notes for her lawyers, discussed tactics and once even snapped her fingers twice in succession as she appeared to become excited by some aspect of their talks.
The defendant who’d accused the authorities of purposefully making her jail life so hellish that it would ruin her chances of putting together a decent defence appeared to be making up for lost time.
She sat next to Christian Everdell, a former prosecutor on the team that convicted Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, and often edged close to him to talk in his ear.
Maxwell seemed little bothered that her mask often slipped below her nose but, at this stage, she may regard contracting coronavirus as the least of her problems.
Sarah Ransome, one of several women who have accused Epstein and Ghislaine of sexual abuse, was seen arriving to the courthouse
After 17 months in a detention centre where she was living in virtual solitary confinement in a
