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This courtroom sketch shows Ghislaine Maxwell, center, seated successful tribunal astatine defence array betwixt 2 US Marshals seated successful foreground, watching proceedings successful her enactment maltreatment proceedings successful New York, Friday Dec. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

NEW YORK – A erstwhile bureau idiosyncratic for financier Jeffrey Epstein testified astatine the enactment maltreatment proceedings of Ghislaine Maxwell connected Thursday that she worked connected a regular ground with Maxwell for six years and had lone admiration for her.

Cimberly Espinosa, the archetypal defence witness, told a assemblage she was Maxwell’s adjunct astatine Epstein's New York City bureau connected Madison Avenue from 1996 to 2002. Maxwell was managing Epstein’s aggregate high-end properties astatine the time, she said, calling it a “huge job.”

“I highly respected her,” Espinosa said successful national tribunal successful Manhattan. “I looked up to her precise much.”

The defence lawsuit began aft the assemblage heard four women item accusations that they were teens erstwhile they became victims of a sex-abuse strategy devised by Maxwell and Epstein. The British socialite's attorneys are expected to marque their lawsuit that Maxwell isn't the 1 to blame.

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The government's lawsuit lasted lone 2 weeks and the defence lawsuit could past conscionable 2 days. Both sides streamlined their witnesser lists without revealing why, making the proceedings extremity good abbreviated of an archetypal six-week estimate.

The commencement of the defence lawsuit has already sparked the accustomed speculation astir whether the high-profile suspect volition instrumentality the witnesser basal successful her ain defence — a gamble that is astir ne'er taken. Either way, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan volition person to person nonstop confirmation from Maxwell astir her determination earlier the defence tin rest.

Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not blameworthy to charges she acted arsenic Epstein’s main enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for him to maltreatment during intersexual massages.

Maxwell was erstwhile Epstein’s woman earlier becoming a trusted employee. Witnesses testified the brace exploited them betwixt 1994 to 2004 astatine Epstein’s homes, including an property successful Palm Beach, Florida; his posh Manhattan townhouse; and a Santa Fe, New Mexico, ranch.

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The defence has insisted that Maxwell is being made a scapegoat for alleged enactment crimes by Epstein, who killed himself successful jailhouse successful 2019. Her lawyers person sought to amusement that the accusers exaggerated her engagement astatine the behest of lawyers seeking payouts for the women from civilian claims against the Epstein estate.

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