Overview

The Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell refers to the criminal court case involving socialite Ghislaine Maxwell who was charged in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case for allegedly procuring and sexually trafficking underage girls for Epstein to exploit. She was taken into police custody in July 2020 but the courtroom trial didn't take place until late November 2021 in New York City. In December 2021, Maxwell was found guilty on all counts. In June 2022, federal prosecutors recommended that the judge sentence Maxwell to at least 30 years in prison for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse girls. The judge's sentencing was set to be announced on June 28th, 2022.

Background

Ghislaine Maxwell was born into the wealthy British family of disgraced publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell. She came into public prominence as the romantic partner and later confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, who talked highly of her as his "best friend" as far back as 2011.^[1]

When Epstein was arrested on July 6th, 2019, Maxwell was also in the mix to be apprehended in relation to the case. However, she evaded authorities in hiding over the course of one year. According to CNN,^[2] Maxwell was to be charged with six criminal counts including enticement and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury. On July 2nd, 2020, Maxwell was discovered hiding in a remote New Hampshire estate where she was arrested and charged with the six aforementioned criminal counts. She pleaded not guilty and was held in jail without bail.

On August 27th, 2021, The New York Post^[3] made public that Maxwell's trial had a firm start date of November 29th, 2021. According to the New York Post, her trial was originally scheduled for July, but due to new developments in the case including new counts of sex trafficking against her, the trial was postponed by a couple of months.

Developments

Leading up to the trial, it was revealed by Business Insider^[4] on November 26th, 2021, that the lead prosecutor was former FBI director James Comey's daughter Maurene Comey. This was interesting news to many because of James Comey's involvement in investigations of both Donald Trump's ties to Russia and Hillary Clinton's email controversy.

On November 28th, 2021, Twitter^[5] users like @DarnelSugarfoo brought attention to conflicts surrounding Comey's involvement within the case stating "Maureen Comey was responsible for the 'accidental' deletion of the CCTV tapes of Epstein's cell," in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's suicide. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 2,600 likes over the course of one day.

The trial began on November 29th, 2021, in Manhattan, New York. According to ABC News,^[6] the case against Maxwell was to be presented to the jury based on the experiences of four, anonymous women who accused her.

Pilot Larry Visoski's Testimony

On November 30th, 2021, one day into the trial, news broke online of former 'Lolita Express' pilot Larry Visoski's testimony within the courtroom. The 'Lolita Express' was the personal plane used by Epstein to travel around the world, including trips to and from his private island in the Pacific. The biggest headline that came from his testimony was that he namedropped public figures like former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump as well as England's Prince Andrew all as being passengers on the plane at some time. Instagram pages like @LadBible^[14] posted news-stye infographics about the testimony on November 30th. @LadBible's post (shown below) received roughly 204,800 likes over the course of two days.

Memes about Visoski's testimony percolated on social media on the 30th. For instance, Twitter^[15] user @Gritty20202 tweeted two images of Democrat and Republican Crying Wojaks to make a joke about how supporters from both sides of the aisle reacted to testimony. The tweet (shown below, left) received roughly 2,100 likes over two days. Instagram pages like @thebabylonbee^[16] also posted memes about the testimony on the 30th. A post from them (shown below, right) photoshopped in "Billslav Clintonovich" as the sitting judge and it received roughly 78,100 likes over two days.

Jane's Testimony

On day two of the trial, December 1st, 2021, the first female accuser of Maxwell took to the stand to give her testimony. The woman within the trail went by the pseudonym "Jane," to protect her identity. She detailed in her testimony that she was fourteen when she first had a sexual encounter with Epstein and that Maxwell was in the room and sometimes participated. Maxwell's defense team claimed that Jane had twenty years to make up her story, thereby arguing that the narrative she relayed was false or poorly remembered. This was all reported by ABC News, which posted a YouTube^[19] video about Jane's testimony on December 1st (shown below). It received up to 67,900 views over one day.

Maxwell And Epstein "Government Exhibit" Photos

On December 7th, 2021, multiple photographs depicting Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in various settings, embracing each other and showing affection, entered the courtroom as evidence of the two being, "partners in crime." According to the New York Post,^[20] the photos were recovered during an FBI raid at Epstein’s New York mansion in 2019. The photographs were made public online via the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan on December 8th, 2021.

Among the "Government Exhibit" photos that were released were two, in particular, that received the most amount of meme attention. The two images depicted Maxwell giving Epstein a foot massage on a private jet. The images (shown below) were posted to places like Instagram^[21] on December 8th by @trialtracker, where they received roughly 12,800 likes in less than 24 hours.

On Twitter, accounts like @TrueAnonPod^[22] tweeted an image of the private jet foot massage with the caption, "Hate this with my life." Their tweet (shown below, left) was posted on December 8th and received roughly 4,000 likes in less than 24 hours. On the same day, Instagram accounts like @limpbizkitfan2000^[23] started making memes with the various photographs, ironically romanticizing the criminal couple. Their meme (shown below, right) received roughly 6,200 likes in less than 24 hours.

Another "Government Exhibit" photograph from the trial that received attention showed Maxwell and Epstein sitting on the porch of Queen Elizabeth's Balmoral log cabin circa 1999. A tweet posted by Twitter^[24] account @scobie compared images of Maxwell and the Queen side-by-side. The two images (shown below) received roughly 2,300 likes via the tweet in less than 24 hours.

The story was reported on the following day by news outlets like The New York Post.^[25] The comparison image also landed on Instagram meme accounts like @incellectualsvenomized.^[26]

Overall, reactions online to the foot massage images went to two different extremes: those who criticized the opulence of the couple and those who began hornyposting about the way Maxwell looked in the photographs. This dichotomy was verbalized by Twitter^[27] user @marina0swald in a tweet she posted (shown below) on December 8th. The tweet received 846 likes in one day. Other Twitter users like @ebeggin1^[28] tweeted, "If you hornypost over Ghislaine Maxwell even ironically you should probably go to some kind of reformation camp," and received 305 likes in less than a day.

Verdict

On December 29th, 2021, the jury found Maxwell guilty on 5 of 6 counts. A sentencing date was set for June 2022. Her lawyers announced a plan to appeal the verdict.

Online Reactions

Reactions to Maxwell's trial appeared in more abundance in the weeks prior to November 29th. Twitter users began to discuss why the trial wasn't going to be shown live on national outlets. This is due to the trial being a federal case and federal cases not being eligible for live broadcasting. Tweets related to this concern started on November 20th, 2021, when Twitter^[7] user @shoe0nhead tweeted, "why isn’t the ghislaine maxwell/epstein case being live-streamed for the public[?]" Her tweet (shown below) received roughly 30,200 likes over the course of nine days.

Other Twitter users expressed concern that the upcoming trial wasn't being talked about enough by news outlets. For example, on November 22nd, 2021, Twitter^[8] user @KamVTV tweeted, "Why is no one talking about Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial?" The tweet (shown below) received roughly 42,300 likes over seven days.

On November 26th, 2021, Facebook^[12] page The Libertarian Republic posted a meme related to mainstream media trying to distract the public from the Maxwell trial. The meme (shown below) received roughly 2,400 reactions over the course of four days.

Media Distractions of the Ghislaine Maxwell Trial

A reaction that began to pick up traction leading up to the trial was related to the COVID-19 Omicron Variant being, allegedly, a publicity vacuum designed by the media to distract from the Maxwell trial. The first meme related to this concern or conspiracy was posted by Twitter^[9] user @Asher68W on November 27th, 2021, who used the Mother Ignoring Kid Drowning In A Pool template. The meme (shown below) received 50 likes over the course of two days. However, it was reposted by a larger Twitter^[10] account the next day where it received roughly 25,400 likes over the course of one day.

Other memes related to the above topic were posted on Facebook in the days following. Facebook^[11] page Brett Hunter Allbright posted a meme on November 28th, 2021, (shown below) that received 162 reactions over the course of one day. However, it was reposted to a larger Facebook^[13] page the same day where it received roughly 2,900 reactions in less than 24 hours.

Another event people online started to label as a media distraction was the resignation of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, which occurred on the 29th, the same day as the Maxwell trial's start date. On November 30th, 2021, Twitter^[17] account @Hellohowru12345 tweeted about the coincidence, namedropping other CEOs that also stepped down on the 29th, like those of Walmart and CNBC. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 38,700 likes over two days. It was also reposted to other platforms like Instagram. One example was posted by Instagram^[18] account @henrydavis1300 on December 1st, where it received roughly 5,300 likes in less than 24 hours.

Sentencing

On June 22nd, 2022, The New York Times published an article^[29] that stated federal prosecutors had asked the judge, Alison J. Nathan, to sentence Maxwell to a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 55 years in jail for her crimes. The government asserted in its letter that if anything stood out from Maxwell’s sentencing submission, it was her failure to address her criminal conduct and her “utter lack of remorse.”^[29]

As a response, Maxwell's defense team suggested a sentence below the 20 years recommended by the court’s probation department. This was because, according to them, officials only arrested Maxwell to appease Epstein's victims and “repair the tarnished reputations” followed by his suicide.^[29] Additionally, they cited Maxwell's father, Robert Maxwell, as the true culprit and also claimed Maxwell's jail cell conditions were unethical.

Judge Alison J. Nathan's sentencing of Maxwell was set to be announced on June 28th, 2022.

Reactions

On June 23rd, 2022, the New York Times posted a tweet^[30] that included a link to their article.^[29] In less than one day, the tweet received over 6,000 likes (shown below).

Most online reactions were in regards to the New York Times' tweet and mostly questioned the unreleased "client list" that had the names of Epstein's most common clientele. For instance, on June 23rd, 2022, Twitter^[31] user realJohnACastro tweeted, "They still have not released the flight logs. DOJ is protecting people that sexually abused children procured by Epstein. It’s disgusting. The system is corrupt to the core," earning roughly 2,400 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Also on June 23rd, Twitter^[32] user BBCFLauraKT posted a tweet with a similar sentiment, earning roughly 2,500 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References