Ghislaine Maxwell says she will not testify, declaring ‘the government has not proven its case’

NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell stood in court Friday and said she will not testify in her own defense, declaring, “Your honor, the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and so there is no reason for me to testify.”

The decision by the 59-year-old British socialite paves the way for closing arguments in Manhattan Federal Court early next week. Maxwell, accused of trafficking underage Epstein victims from 1994 to 2004, appeared confident as she announced her decision. Her lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, stood beside her with her arm curled around Maxwell’s lower back.

Shortly before Maxwell made her decision, the wife of a billionaire hedge fund manager testified she was so close to her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein that her adult kids affectionately knew the sex offender as “Uncle F.”

Eva Dubin, the wife of wealthy hedge funder Glenn Dubin, took the stand in Maxwell’s defense. A Manhattan doctor and former Miss Sweden, Dubin, 60, said she never felt uneasy when Epstein spent time with her family.

“Were you and Mr. Dubin comfortable with the relationship between Mr. Epstein and your children?” asked Maxwell lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca.

“Yes,” replied Dubin. “They called him uncle F.”

Dubin told the jury she dated Epstein from 1983 to roughly 1991 and remained close to the multimillionaire wealth manager after their breakup.

She said she stayed at Epstein’s Palm Beach, Florida, mansion “maybe four times a year,” from 1994 to 2000.

Dubin’s husband has faced allegations that Epstein loaned him trafficking victims for sex. Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre has said Glenn Dubin slept with her as a teenager — allegations he strenuously denies.

Pagliuca focused many of his questions on Jane, a Maxwell accuser who previously testified she was 14 when Maxwell and Epstein first sexually abused her.

“Have you ever been in a group sexual encounter with the person we are calling ‘Jane’?” Pagliuca asked.

“Absolutely not,” said Dubin.

“Have you ever been in a group sexualized massage with Jane?” Pagliuca followed up.

“I have not,” Dubin replied.

In a deposition unsealed in January, Rinaldo Rizzo, a butler who worked for Glenn Dubin, said Epstein once visited the hedge fund manager’s house with a 15-year-old Swedish girl who he described as “shaking, literally quivering.”

“‘I’m Jeffrey’s executive assistant, personal assistant,’” Rizzo quoted the girl in his deposition. “She says, ‘Ghislaine took my passport.’”

The statements emerged through a civil suit brought by Giuffre against Maxwell.

But much of those allegations did not come up in Eva Dubin’s testimony. The founder of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center spent less than an hour on the stand.

She told Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe that Maxwell and Epstein’s relationship in the 1990s was “hard to define.” “But they were living in the same house,” she added.

Dubin told the court she had suffered severe memory issues on cross-examination with Moe due to unspecified medical treatment. Dubin is a breast cancer survivor.

“It’s very hard for me to remember anything that far back,” she said. “And sometimes I can’t even remember things from last month.”

The defense also called a former J. Epstein company assistant, Michelle Healy. She told the jury she never witnessed anything untoward when she worked for the financier in the late 1990s.

Meanwhile, Maxwell’s plan to call other people to the stand in her defense ran into problems. A man sick with COVID, a witness who planned to plead the Fifth, and an octogenarian pub owner still in London were among those the defense team struggled to summon to court, frustrating the judge.

Judge Alison Nathan told Maxwell’s high-powered legal defense team that it was now or never. The British socialite needed to produce her witnesses without delay or proceed to closing arguments earlier than expected.

If “the case closes today, it closes today,” Nathan said. “I’m not delaying trial on this issue.”

The defense had hoped to call the elderly owner of Nags Head pub in London, across the street from a townhouse where a Maxwell accuser, Kate, testified she participated in a sexualized massage at 17 with Epstein.

“This is a witness that is extraordinarily relevant,” argued lawyer Christian Everdell, telling the court the bar owner would poke holes in Kate’s timeline of events.

“We were able to find this person, and he was willing to come even though he’s 81.”

The New York Daily News called the pub and briefly spoke with an older man who asked a reporter to call back tomorrow because he was busy serving customers.

Another proposed defense witness, identified in court only as Kelly, had not responded to a federal subpoena. Kelly’s lawyer vowed she would invoke the Fifth Amendment if forced to testify. Maxwell’s lawyers want to question Kelly about her alleged participation in group sex.

Another witness, identified as Alexander Hamilton, had COVID, Maxwell’s attorneys said. The defense had hoped to question him about a conversation with Kate.

Maxwell lawyer Laura Menninger said the defense had engaged in a Herculean effort to fly people from around the world into Manhattan who would vouch for the socialite’s integrity.

“Our client’s life is on the line and we are being given one day to put on a defense — one day and a half,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Maurene Comey said the defense didn’t deserve extra time.

“We strongly disagree with the suggestion that the defense counsel is unduly rushed here,” she said.

As her lawyers scrambled for ways to get more witnesses on the stand, Maxwell, wearing all black, leaned on the defense table, holding her head in her hand with her elbow on the table.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges she procured minors for Epstein for a decade, aided in their trafficking, and lied about the conduct under oath.

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