Defence attorneys Laura Menninger and Jeffrey Pagliuca arrive at court for the Ghislaine Maxwell trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Dec. 9.CARLO ALLEGRI/Reuters
The sex-abuse trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was paused Thursday after it was announced an attorney on the case had gotten sick.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan told the federal court in Manhattan that an attorney was “ill and has to get care.” She did not identify the attorney, but said there was no reason to believe the illness was related to the coronavirus.
The judge sent jurors home for the day, telling them to expect to return Friday to resume hearing testimony in the trial’s second week.
Maxwell, 59, has denied charges she groomed teenagers to give financier Jeffrey Epstein sexual messages at the billionaire’s residences in Florida, New York, New Mexico and elsewhere. Her lawyers have accused prosecutor of making her a scapegoat for sex crimes committed by Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019.
The government had been expected to end its case by the end of the week. The U.S. attorney’s office had no immediate comment.
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