Stage set for Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Two years after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide behind bars, a jury is set to be picked Monday in New York City to determine a central question in the long-running sex trafficking case: Was his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s puppet or accomplice? Maxwell is accused of acting as Epstein’s chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for the late financier to abuse. The charges against her stem from allegations of four women who say she and Epstein victimized them as teens from 1994 to 2004. Maxwell says she’s innocent. The 59-year-old British socialite, jailed in Brooklyn since her arrest, has called the claims against her “absolute rubbish.”