Federal prosecutors Monday added federal sex trafficking to the list of charges Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell is facing, which already included conspiracy and enticing minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and the transportation of minors to engage in criminal sexual activity for allegedly grooming and recruiting underage girls from 1994 through 1997.
According to CNN, the charges stem from Maxwell recruiting and grooming an unnamed 14-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with Epstein as recently as 2004. The indictment alleges Maxwell interacted with the girl many times in Palm Beach, Florida when she the girl was under the age of 18. She encouraged her to enact in massages with Epstein and urged the girl to make them sexual.
In the court filing for the amended indictment, prosecutors also said they would start producing affidavits from non-testifying witnesses by April 21st.
“This production will include the statements of more than 250 witnesses related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and his associates in the Government’s possession whom the Government does not currently expect to call to testify at trial,” wrote Audrey Strauss, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.