Jeffrey Epstein’s pilot testified in the criminal sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell that he met former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton as well as Prince Andrew while working with the late financier.
The pilot, Larry Visoki, mentioned the household names and others during the second day of the trial in New York City on Tuesday.
As the prosecution’s first witness, Visoki put Maxwell in the center of Epstein’s life, but also said he did not see Epstein engaging in any wrongdoing with minors while aboard his private planes.
The pilot also recalled seeing actor Kevin Spacey, comedian Chris Tucker, violinist Itzhak Perlman and former Senators George Mitchell and John Glenn aboard the jet.
‘I certainly remember President Trump, but not many people associated with him,’ the pilot testified under cross-examination by Maxwell’s lawyer, Christian Everdell. Visoki added that Trump flew on the plane before he was president.
Visoski testified that Maxwell was about 30 when he met her in 1991.
‘We interacted quite often. She was on a lot of the flights,’ he said.
When questioned about her relationship with Epstein, he said: ‘I thought it was more personal than business.’
Maxwell and Epstein appeared to be a couple in the 1990s, but their relationship was purely based on business by the early 2000s, he testified.
Visoski said Maxwell was ‘number two’ in Epstein’s hierarchy, with Epstein himself being ‘number one.’
‘He knew he was going to get busy so Ghislaine was his go-to person to handle everything that was not business related,’ Visoski said.
Maxwell is accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls to give Epstein erotic massages that a prosecutor described in her opening statement on Monday as a ‘ruse’ for sex abuse.
Maxwell’s defense attorney has said that the British socialite is being scapegoated for crimes that Epstein committed.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 in jail, while awaiting trial for the transportation and abuse of minor teenagers. Maxwell, 59, is being tried in federal court in Manhattan. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to six counts arising from allegedly procuring teen girls for Epstein, some as young as 14 years old.
Epstein also gifted Visoski an assortment of lavish gifts throughout his nearly 30 years of employment, including 40 acres of land in New Mexico for him to build a house.
He also paid for the pilot’s two daughters’ private high school education, Visoski testified.
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from News – Metro https://ift.tt/3ll2GZq
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