Ghislaine Maxwell warned Epstein’s house manager not to ‘look at his eyes’, court hears

The Guardian

By Victoria Bekiempis
Assistant US attorney Maurene Comey questioned Jeffrey Epstein’s house manager. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

The former house manager of Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach home said Thursday that Ghislaine Maxwell warned him that he should “never look” his boss in the eyes, describing a work environment where he faced the grim task of cleaning up their sex toys amid stifling micromanagement.

Juan Alessi, who worked at Epstein’s Florida residence fromabout 1990 to 2002, made the disclosures during his testimony at Maxwell’s child sex-trafficking trial in Manhattan federal court. Alessis’s words painted a portrait of extreme privilege, as well as strict control, and appeared to corroborate some accusers’ allegations against Epstein and Maxwell.

Epstein, a mega-rich financier who counted Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton among his associates, killed himself at a New York City jail in August 2019, pending trial. Maxwell, 59 and the daughter of the deceased British publishing titan Robert Maxwell, was arrested in July 2020 at a sizable New Hampshire estate.

Publish : 2021-12-03 11:33:00

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