By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – According to court filings and legal professionals, Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers will probably focus on portraying her accusers as trustworthy and motivated financially when she presents her case at the sex abuse trial. This is according to legal experts.

On Friday, Prosecutors concluded their case after receiving two weeks’ worth of testimony from the four female witnesses who claimed Maxwell groomed and recruited the victims for abuse by late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell was portrayed by the women as central to Epstein’s abuse of them by Epstein. He was a world-trotting financier and died in suicide while they waited for their trial for sex abuse.

Maxwell, who is 59 years old, has pleaded no guilty to eight counts in New York federal court. Her attorneys tried to discredit the credibility of the women by questioning them about inconsistent accounts or awards from Epstein’s victims.

Maxwell lawyer Bobbi Sternheim stated in an opening statement on Nov. 29, that “this case is about money, memory manipulation and money.”

Maxwell expected Elizabeth Loftus to be one of his expert witnesses. Loftus is a psychologist that studies the effects on people’s memories. In hundreds of cases, she has been consulted or testified. Simpson and Harvey Weinstein.

Duncan Levin, Tucker Levin PLLC managing partner, stated that it’s still difficult to discredit the accusers.

Levin stated, “It’s straight from the playbook.” But… jurors must be able to disregard what the accusers might say because they are rich.

According to the defense, its case would last for between 2 and 4 days.

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According to Zachary Margulis – Ohnuma principal attorney of ZMO Law PLLC, Maxwell’s persuasive testimony may make Maxwell’s defense stand out.

Margulis-Ohnuma stated that the jury “will believe the general gist” of the testimony. “Maxwell’s is the only thing that can counter that, and he will come back to say no, that’s not what I meant.”

Maxwell has not yet been informed by Maxwell’s legal counsel if they will call her to testify.

The prosecutors claim Maxwell’s lawyers also plan to call Robert Glassman. Glassman is the attorney of Jane, a Jane-named woman who claimed that Epstein first assaulted her in 1994 at 14 years old and Maxwell participated in several encounters.

The question is whether Glassman said to Jane that she would cooperate with prosecutors in order to help her claim for the fund. This could be a problem, as the defense claims it might taint Jane’s testimony. Jane said that Epstein awarded her $5 million in compensation.

Laura Menninger, Maxwell lawyer, asked Jane why Maxwell was not mentioned in her 2019 conversation with law enforcement. Sternheim stated that Jane “tagged Ghislaine only when she had money on the line” and that each of four women cooperated to support their claims.

Jane stated that her belief in helping the prosecutors wouldn’t boost her claim. Laurie Levenson of Loyola Law School, stated that although the fund looked at whether claimants’ assertions were consistent with legal enforcement findings. But, this is not a way to prove that women have been aided by cooperating.

Levenson said that there is no obligation on a victim to cooperate with the prosecution or testify in court,” he reviewed the protocol of the fund at Reuters’ request.

Prosecutors last week stated that Maxwell’s defense team also requested a subpoena to Jane’s brother as a way of undermining Jane’s testimony. Jane said that Epstein knew her brother during the 1990s.