Jeffrey Epstein’s housekeeper takes the stand in Ghislaine Maxwell trial

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Jeffrey Epstein‘s former housekeeper testified that he found a ‘large dildo’ and vibrators while cleaning up after the late financier’s massages. 

Juan Alessi, 72, took the stand Thursday in Day Four of Ghislaine Maxwell‘s sex trafficking trial. Questioned by Prosecutor Maurene Comey, Alessi said that he was a maintenance worker and house manager for Epstein at his Palm Beach mansion between 1990 and December 2002. 

Alessi said that part of his job was to clean up after Epstein’s massages – which he said Maxwell scheduled three times per day and which usually took place in his bathroom.

Asked by the prosecutor if he ever found anything ‘unexpected’ after the massages, Alessi said that he found a ‘large dildo,’ describing it as ‘a huge man’s penis with two heads.’

Alessi did not clarify whether it was the sex toy called a ‘Twin Torpedo’ referred to by prosecutors in pretrial filings.

Alessi said that he put gloves on and ‘ran it under the water and put the dildo in Ms. Maxwell’s closet in (her) bathroom’ inside of a wicker basket. 

Alessi said that he saw ‘pornographic tapes and a black leather costume’ in the same basket.

He said that three or four other times he found two other sex toys: one that looked ‘like a pillow’ and another that looked like an ‘arm’ which had a rubber vibrating part at the end.

He put those items in Epstein’s dresser, Alessi said.

Alessi said his role was to make sure the house looked like a ‘five star hotel’ for whenever Epstein arrived, including having hundred dollar bills in each of Epstein’s cars. 

Alessi testified that he was given a lengthy checklist of tasks Maxwell and Epstein had him perform, which he called ‘very degrading’ and was enough work for ten men. 

One bullet on the checklist read, ‘See nothing. Say nothing.’

Asked by Comey what he understood that meant, Alessi replied: ‘I was supposed to be blind, deaf, to say nothing.’ 

To ‘never disclose’ Maxwell and Epstein’s ‘whereabouts or activities,’ he added.  

Alessi said that he first met Maxwell in 1991 and after that his relationship with Epstein became less ‘cordial’ and more ‘professional’.

Alessi said: ‘From the day she came to the house she right away took over. She mentioned to me she was going to be the lady of the house. She also told me she was in charge of (Epstein’s) other properties.’

According to Alessi, Maxwell was with Epstein on his visits to the property ’95 percent of the time.’

In an interview with Palm Beach police in 2005, Alessi admitted he would wash off vibrators and a long rubber penis after a young girl visited Epstein for a massage.

The bed would have to be made up after each massage as well, strongly suggesting some kind of sexual activity. 

Alessi said that he remembered two girls during his employment with Epstein who appeared to be underage.

He was shown a photo of the first accuser in the trial, known as Jane, and confirmed it was her.

The second was Virginia Roberts, the woman who claims that Epstein loaned her out to Prince Andrew for sex when she was 17, allegations he denies.

Alessi said that Jane was ‘introduced to me by Ms. Maxwell’ at the Palm Beach house and he estimated she was around 14 or 15 at the time.

Alessi said that on Jane’s visits to Epstein’s house he would pick her up and that he recalled Maxwell ‘instructed’ him to chauffeur her.

Asked by prosecutor Maurene Comey why she didn’t drive herself, Alessi said she didn’t have a license.

When she arrived at the residence she would go to Maxwell’s desk: Alessi said it was ‘not my job to ask where they were going’.

Alessi said he recalled driving Maxwell, Epstein and Jane to Epstein’s plane and seeing them board together.

Alessi said that he recalled meeting Roberts on a trip to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club with Maxwell.

That day they had visited all the luxury spas in the area when Maxwell suddenly told Alessi, who was driving: ‘Stop!’

Alessi said: ‘I stopped the car and she opened the door and went towards this girl who was coming down the ramp. She looked young. She had blonde hair and was wearing a white uniform like a nurse’ – Roberts has said she was working in the locker room at Mar-a-Lago at the time.

The next time Alessi saw Roberts was later that day at the Palm Beach residence, he said.

The jury were shown two photos of Roberts, one of which shows her with blonde hair and smiling – she looks to be aged around 16.

Alessi said that after that he saw Roberts ‘very often’ at Epstein’s house and estimated she was ‘probably 14 or 15’ years old.

Sometimes Roberts came with her boyfriend but Maxwell told him to wait in the car.

Alessi said that ‘right at the end’ of his time with Epstein he saw Roberts with ‘two other girls’ and observed them going to Maxwell’s desk.

Alessi said he recalled driving Maxwell, Epstein and Roberts to Epstein’s plane and seeing them board together, just like with Jane.

Asked about Epstein’s massages, Alessi said: ‘At the beginning he received around one (a day). At the end (of my employment) he received three massages a day.

Maxwell would schedule the massages, as would Epstein and sometimes Epstein’s office in New York, Alessi said.

Alessi said: ‘It was at all times. Massages in the morning, massages in the afternoon, some massages after dinner, after the movies. They were 10, 11 o’clock at night.

Prosecutors presented Alessi with a copy of Epstein’s black book that he used to keep contacts for his famous friends and Alessi confirmed it looked like a later version of the one he used.

He said that there was a ‘page with massage therapists’ and that the contact information for the accuser known as Jane was among them.

Turning to the black book, which he held in his hand after being given a copy by the prosecution, Alessi said that Maxwell and Epstein were the ones who used it.

Copies had to be kept in the kitchen desk, Maxwell’s desk, Epstein’s three desks and in the tables next to Epstein and Maxwell’s beds.

Asked if he saw women by the pool at the Palm Beach home, he replied ‘hundreds of times,’ adding that the women were topless 75%-80% of the time.  

Alessi said Thursday that Maxwell gave him ‘many, many instructions’ about how to run the house about every aspect of the property.

Prosecutor Comey asked Alessi about his understanding of the relationship between Maxwell and Epstein.

He replied that Maxwell was the ‘girlfriend’ of Epstein. 

Comey asked if Maxwell ever gave him instructions on how to speak to Epstein.

He said she told him that ‘I was only supposed to speak to Mr. Epstein when he asked a question’.

Comey asked if there were instructions from Maxwell about eye contact with Epstein.

Alessi said: ‘She said Jeffrey doesn’t like to be looked at in the eyes. You should never look at his eyes. Look at another part of the room and answer him’. 

 Last year Alessi appeared as a guest for a podcast interview with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the Epstein survivor who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, allegations he denies.  

Alessi revealed that the Duke of York visited Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida two or three times while he was there.

Andrew was memorable because he was so polite – and was the only one of Epstein’s guests to leave him a tip,’ he claimed. 

The interview with Alessi happened at his home in Florida last year when Giuffre turned up unannounced at his door.

They last saw each other in 2002 when Giuffre left for Thailand to train as a masseuse and never returned to Epstein, who had asked her to carry a baby for him and Maxwell before she left.

Their conversation turned to Maxwell and as former Epstein employees they used to bond over stories of mistreatment by their boss – Maxwell. 

In the podcast Alessi said: ‘That relationship between Epstein and her I never understood.’

Giuffre said: ‘Me neither, I asked Maxwell, so…’

Alessi cut in and said ‘I told her many times. I said: ”Ghislaine, why are you doing this? Why are you staying with this guy?” (She said) ”I hate him, I hate him but I can’t leave”. I said: ”Why? You have money, why are you not leaving?”’

Giuffre says: ‘That relationship was confusing’.

He said that Epstein ‘liked massages from the day I met him’ and talks of a regime of secrecy inside the house.

He said: ‘I was not supposed to talk to the guests, I was not supposed to talk to Virginia. Nothing, no talking. I was not allowed to interrupt conversations’.

Alessi claimed that he saw the lawyer Alan Dershowitz at Epstein’s house ‘many times’ but never with underage girls – Dershowitz denies any wrongdoing.

Alessi said: ‘Prince Andrew was at the house two or three times when I was there.

‘He was always polite and a very nice guy. He was the only guy who left us a tip’.

In the episode Alessi said it is ‘sickening’ to think about Giuffre being abused and claims he never saw anything suspicious.

But as Broken host Tara Palmeri points out, Alessi’s story is highly problematic because he has changed his story so often. 

Even in the podcast Alessi said that Epstein would ‘come to me and say call this girl, it was hundreds of girls that I have a list, call Joanne, call Judy, call Nicole, so many girls’. 

Alessi’s testimony came after Dr. Lisa Rocchio, a clinical and forensic psychologist, took the stand as the prosecution’s expert witness. 

Dr. Rocchio testified that giving massages and gifts could be key parts of the grooming process and said such ‘manipulative tactics’ were part of the five stages of grooming a child victim for abuse. 

Maxwell’s first accuser ‘Jane’ testified this week that Epstein paid for her schooling and apartment, promising to ‘give her the world’, before he sexually abused her. 

Dr. Rocchio said she had been specializing in the field of traumatic stress and interpersonal violence for 30 years and was an assistant professor at Brown University as well as running her own practice.

She defined grooming as: ‘A series of deceptive tactics, strategies or MO that are used by perpetrators for the purpose of engaging a child in sexual abuse’.

The first stage was identifying a victim and predators looked for ‘vulnerable’ people such as those from disadvantaged homes, Rocchio said.

Stage two was ‘obtaining access’ to the victims and putting themselves in situations where their access to children ‘is not likely to be questioned.’

Prosecutors have claimed that Epstein and Maxwell first met Jane, the first accuser, at a children’s arts camp in Michigan where he donated $200,000 to have a lodge named after him.

Stage three was about ‘engaging in lies and deception’ to build a relationship with the victims including giving gifts such as ‘fancy clothes and jewelry’.

Such presents are intended to make the victim feel ‘special’, Rocchio said.

Prosecutors claim that Maxwell bought one of her accusers lingerie and a pair of boots for another.

The final two stages are a process of desensitization to physical and sexual touch, Dr. Rocchio said.

This can involve things like giving hugs, touching and ‘giving a massage.’

In her evidence, Maxwell’s first accuser, Jane, claimed Maxwell instructed her how to give Epstein a massage that would please him and that the abuse often happened in the massage room.

The final stage was a process of coercion to ensure the abuse continued and the victim did not tell anyone. 

Dr. Rocchio said that it was ‘very common’ for victims to delay disclosing the abuse, especially if they were young and they were more likely to disclose it to a friend than law enforcement.

Earlier the court heard from Paul Kane, the director of finance at Professional Children’s School, a performing arts school in Manhattan which Jane attended.

He was asked to read the name of the person who had ‘financial responsibility’ for Jane on her application to join the school in 12th grade, or 17 years old.

He said: ‘Mr. Jeffrey Epstein.’