Ghislaine Maxwell said offering extra money for Jeffrey Epstein massages was ‘career advice,’ court documents reveal

‘It is possible that I would have said that she should explore that as an option’

Ghislaine Maxwell claimed in a 2016 deposition that offering a woman extra money to massage Jeffrey Epstein was “career advice,” court documents have revealed.

Transcripts detailing “intimate” details of Ms Maxwell's relationship with Epstein were unsealed and made public on Thursday.

The 2016 deposition relates to a now-settled civil defamation lawsuit Virginia Giuffre brought against Maxwell, in which she alleged that Epstein, with help from Ms Maxwell, kept her as a “sex slave”.

The 418-page deposition is being used by US state prosecutors in their case against Ms Maxwell, 58, who they allege helped Epstein, her former boyfriend and business associate, recruit and groom underage girls for illegal sexual acts in the mid-1990s.

In the documents, Ms Maxwell was asked by prosecutors if she ever told a woman, whose name has been redacted, “that she would get extra money if she provided Jeffrey massages?”

Ms Maxwell replied: “I was always happy to give career advice to people and I think that becoming somebody in the healthcare profession, either exercise instructor or nutritionist or professional massage therapist is an excellent job opportunity.

“Hourly wages are about 7, 8, $9 and as a professional healthcare provider you can earn somewhere between as we have established 100 to $200 and to be able to travel and have a job that pays that is a wonderful job opportunity.

 “So in the context of advising people for opportunities for work, it is possible that I would have said that she should explore that as an option.”

Maxwell was then asked about the unnamed woman: “Did you tell her she would get extra money if she massaged Jeffrey?” and she replied: “I am just saying I cannot recall the exact conversation. I give career advice and I have done that.”

The 58-year-old was then asked: “Did you ever have [redacted] massage you,” to which she replied: “yes.”

The prosecutors added: “Was there sex involved?” and Ms Maxwell replied: “No.”

The full transcript of Ms Maxwell’s testimony was released at 9am on Thursday, after US district judge Loretta Preska directed it, alongside other documents, to be made public.

Maxwell’s lawyers argued that she believed the deposition would remain confidential and that releasing it would violate her constitutional right against self-incrimination, ahead of her upcoming trial.

Her lawyers also argued that making the deposition public could make it difficult for Maxwell to receive a fair trial, as they claimed that jurors might hold its contents against her.

The 58-year-old is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn following her arrest on 2 July, while hiding in a property in Bradford, New Hampshire, which she bought in cash to protect her identity.

She is being held for charges of trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse of minors, and her trial has been scheduled for July 2021.

Earlier in the year she pleaded not guilty and denied the claims that she groomed and recruited underage girls for Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail last year, while awaiting trial on charges relating to the trafficking and sexual abuse of minors.

After Ms Maxwell applied to be let out on bail for the duration of her trial, a judge turned it down, labelling her an unacceptable flight risk.