NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell told the judge at her sex trafficking trial Friday that she would not testify in her own defense.
“Your Honor, the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt so there is no reason for me to testify,” Maxwell told the judge, the Associated Press reported.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges stemming from her interactions with four teenage girls from 1994 to 2004.
Her defense called another of Jeffrey Epstein's one-time paramours to the stand earlier Friday, who told the jury that she trusted Epstein with her young daughters and denied taking part in a group sexual encounter with a key accuser.
Friday is the second day of the defense presentation, which could wrap before the weekend.
The jury has heard the testimony of four women about how when they were teens they were alleged victims of a sex-abuse scheme devised by Maxwell and Epstein
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested on charges of allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls. A month later, he died by suicide in a New York jail cell.
