Ms. Maxwell chose not to testify, and her lawyers called a handful of witnesses whose testimony sought to poke holes in the accounts of her accusers.
On Friday afternoon, near the end of the 12th day of Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial, the judge overseeing the case had a question for Ms. Maxwell: Did she plan to take the witness stand? Ms. Maxwell stood next to one of her lawyers, Bobbi C. Sternheim, whose arm was curled around Ms. Maxwell’s lower back as she spoke. “The government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Ms. Maxwell said. “And so, there is no reason for me to testify.” The jury, which was still out on an extended lunch break, never heard Ms. Maxwell’s voice. Soon after, Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers rested their case, paving the way for closing arguments to begin Monday. With close to a full day of arguments expected and the judge needing to instruct the jurors on the law, it seemed likely that Ms. Maxwell’s case will be submitted to the jury early on Tuesday. Ms. Maxwell,59, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she helped recruit and groom underage girls for abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, her longtime companion, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting his own sex-trafficking trial. The case against Ms. Maxwell, who was arrested in July 2020, was widely seen as the legal reckoning that Mr. Epstein never had. And though hotly anticipated testimony about Mr. Epstein’s famous friends was fleeting, the case at times provided a glimpse into the disgraced financier’s lifestyle. Witnesses described lurid scenes at Mr. Epstein’s Palm Beach estate, and two women testified that they were sexually abused by Mr.
