Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell Pictured at Queen Elizabeth's Balmoral Estate in Court Photo
HANDOUT/US District Court for the Southe/AFP via Getty Images Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein
A photograph of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell relaxing at a log cabin on Queen Elizabeth's Balmoral Estate in Scotland has been shown at the British socialite's trial in New York.
The picture, which is thought to have been taken in 1999 when the disgraced financier reportedly visited the estate with the Queen's youngest son Prince Andrew, shows Epstein and Maxwell casually reclining on the cabin's veranda. The Queen and her family have been pictured sitting in what appears to be the exact same location over the years.
The photo was released by the US Department of Justice and shown to the court to show the extent of Maxwell's close relationship with Epstein.
Prince Andrew announced he would be "stepping back" from public duties following backlash from a disastrous BBC interview in November 2019 when he addressed his relationship with disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison two months before the interview amid allegations of sex trafficking.
In June 2020, Maxwell, now 59, was charged with six felonies, including conspiracy to entice minors to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sex acts and perjury. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has been held without bond in a Brooklyn, N.Y., jail.
Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Balmoral Castle
Epstein was found dead in prison at age 66 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking in 2019.
On Dec. 1, Sarah Ransome, 37, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about her horrific nine-month ordeal at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell after she relocated from Scotland to New York in 2006.
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"I was naïve. I was vulnerable. I was broken," said Ransome, whose new book, Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back, was published on Dec. 7. "I was literally the perfect victim for them."
Lauren Fleishman Sarah Ransome
"It was Ghislaine who was the real enforcer," Ransome added about her experiences on Epstein's Caribbean island - dubbed "Pedophile Island" by survivors. "She was the enforcer. She was the groomer. She controlled everything."
On Thursday, the jury in Maxwell's sex-trafficking trial was sent home, and the trial was temporarily put on hold after a lawyer in the case fell sick. Judge Alison J. Nathan said she expected the trial to continue on Friday, reports The New York Times.
Prince Andrew is due in court next week for the forthcoming trial over the lawsuit Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed in New York City this past August. The lawsuit centers on Giuffre's allegations that the Duke of York forced her to have sex with him three separate times between 1999 and 2002, including occasions when she was under the age of 18. Prince Andrew has consistently denied these accusations.
STEVE PARSONS/POOL/AFP via Getty Prince Andrew
Giuffre alleges she was forced to have sex with the royal three times between 1999 and 2002 in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Jeffrey Epstein.
