The longtime pilot of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein testified Tuesday that he remembers meeting one of the women who have accused Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking.
Testifying at Maxwell’s trial in New York City, Larry Visoski said Epstein personally introduced him, on one of the flights, to the woman prosecutors are identifying via the pseudonym Jane and he remembered her “piercing blue eyes.”
But on cross-examination, he said he was not aware that she was underage and was not aware of any minors flying on Epstein’s private planes “without a parent.”
“She looked like a woman,” Visoski, who told the court he worked for Epstein from 1991 to 2019, said of Jane.
Visoski returned to the stand on Day Two of Maxwell’s trial. The 59-year-old British socialite has been accused by prosecutors of identifying and targeting vulnerable young women and “grooming” them for sex with Epstein and other powerful men.
Maxwell, who is on trial for allegedly helping Epstein recruit and abuse Jane and three other underage girls, mostly in the 1990s, has denied all the accusations and pleaded not guilty to the six charges against her.
But Epstein’s flights became the focus of intense media scrutiny after it was discovered that former President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and a host of other celebrities took trips on his planes.
Virginia Roberts Guiffre, an alleged Epstein victim who isn’t part of this case, has charged in a civil lawsuit that Maxwell trafficked her to Andrew when she was 17. The British royal has denied the allegations.
Visoski said he met Guiffre as well on one of the flights in the “mid to late 90s” and had no idea how old she was either. He also said he never witnessed any sex on the planes he piloted to Epstein’s numerous luxurious homes.
“I didn’t know her age, she didn’t look young,” he testified. “She was a woman in my category.”
Visoski said he frequently ran into Maxwell and testified that she oversaw Epstein’s households.
Asked about Maxwell and Epstein’s relationship, he said: “I thought it was more personal than business.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
