Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Day 4 - The Butler
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The proceedings for the Ghislaine Maxwell trial were dominated today by Juan Patricio Alessi. Alessi, 72, was Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime handyman and home manager. He testified for more than 4 hours about his time employed by the late billionaire and accused sex trafficker.
Alessi was at times thoughtful and reflective, thumbing through government exhibit 52, the infamous “little black book” full of names and contact numbers of the rich and powerful, whose circles Epstein traveled in for decades. Just before 4:00 PM, while the opposing counsels went up to the bench for a sidebar where they discussed whether or not an objection to a question could be sustained, Alessi seemed pensive and engrossed in the little black book, its pages filled with jumbled post-it notes. Ghislaine Maxwell, sitting on the defence bench wearing a black sweater, thumbed through her own notes. On the bench behind her, her brother Kevin and sister Isabel, who have been at the courthouse the past few days, sat in discussion,
Entered into evidence by the government today was a strict, 58 page “Household Manual” which Epstein’s staff were required by Ghislaine Maxwell to follow to the letter. Alessi described Maxwell as the “lady of the house,” and described his consternation at the “degrading” and rigorous demands laid on him and his wife, who also worked for Epstein, by the instruction manual.
“Do not discuss personal problems with the guests,” read one bullet point in the manual. And another instructed employees to “Remember that you see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing, except to answer a question directed at you.” It was a kind of warning, according to Alessi, “that I was supposed to be blind.” The instructions also included preparing Ghislaine Maxwell’s favorite breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice and Weetabix cereal, making sure a gun was placed in the bedside table drawer, keeping the air conditioning set to a cool 60 degrees, and keeping all of Epstein’s cars filled with hundred dollar bills.
Alessi, who was born in Quito, Ecuador, and moved to the United States in early 1984, started working for Epstein in 1990 as a subcontractor. In 1991 Epstein him asked to work full time for him running the house. Alessi testified to working long hours, 5AM to 10PM, and left the job in 2002 because of an illness. and because he was tired of the job.
Before he worked for Epstein, was a maintenance man for a series of wealthy families in Palm Beach. He was introduced to Epstein in 1990 on a referral from a Mr. Mesiner. Epstein also heard about Alessi because he was working for billionaire Leslie Wexner’s mother at the time. Wexner, a Columbus, Ohio based fashion billionaire once gave Epstein power of attorney and absolute control over investing his money, as well as gifting Epstein with his New York City townhouse. Wexner has been accused of playing a role in Epstein’s sex trafficking empire, as well as participating in and facilitating that abuse himself.
Most of the women who came to Epstein’s Palm Beach house were in their 20s, Alessi claimed on the witness stand. They could often be found lounging around the pool - 75-80% of the time topless, said Alessi, but never nude.
Alessi testified that by the end of his employment by Epstein, the billionaire was getting 3 massages a day. He remembered finding a dildo that looked like a “huge man’s penis with two heads” by Epstein’s massage table, located in a bathroom off the master bedroom. Alessi remembered finding dildos 4-5 times after the massages. After Epstein’s massages, Alessi would wash the dildo and put it back in a large basket in Ghislaine Maxwell’s room. He put it there, he was said, because “that’s the place I was told, where it was kept in the house...I knew everything that happened in that house.”
Alessi also saw pornographic tapes and a “custom black costume” in the basket.
He claimed that he only ever saw two girls that looked underage visit the house. The first was identified pseudonymously in the court as Jane Doe. Alessi said she was a “strikingly beautiful girl” with long brown hair, tall, and very pleasant. The first three times Jane visited Epstein’s Palm Beach house, she was with her mother. Then, she started coming on her own, spending her time with Jeffrey or Ghislaine. Alessi would often drive to pick her up from her house, and remembered picking her up once from the Palm Beach School of the Arts. Alessi’s wife also drove Jane Doe from time to time.
The Jane Doe who testified on Tuesday and Wednesday is an actress who went to performing arts schools in the Palm Beach area.
Alessi recalled Jane coming to Epstein’s house twice with luggage, in 1994. He then drove her, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Epstein to the airport, “all the way up to the tarmac,” where they got on Epstein's private jet.
Alessi also remembered driving Ghislaine Maxwell to Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort one day for a spa visit. Later in his testimony, Alessi remembered seeing photos of Epstein in his Palm Beach house with very important people, including Trump.
It was a very hot day, and Ghislaine told him to stop. There was a young girl with blonde hair in a white uniform that Alessi described as being “like a nurse’s uniform” coming down the ramp from the main gate. Maxwell got out of the car and went to talk to her. The next time Alessi saw the girl was at five or six in the evening at Epstein’s house. He introduced her to Ghislaine at her desk, and left.
That girl, he would come to learn, was Virginia Roberts, and she began visiting often after that evening. According to Roberts, Epstein and Maxwell molested her the very first night she was there, then constantly for years during which she also claimed she was trafficked to a series of Epstein’s powerful friends.
She was probably 14 or 15, Alessi remembered, and came to Epstein’s house with her boyfriend a few times. He was in the kitchen and Maxwell told Alessi to tell the boy to leave, that he couldn’t be there. Alessi says near the end of his time of employment he saw her come in with two other girls that she brought to Ghislaine’s desk. He also said that she came with her luggage two or three times, and on those occasions he drove her to the tarmac too.
Alessi claimed to never have flown in Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, but that he once flew on a small plane with Ghislaine Maxwell to an engagement in Miami.
Alessi also described how he visited Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico for a symposium organized for staff to learn how to clean correctly.
When asked if he had ever visited any of Epstein’s other properties, Alessi paused with a pained look on his face. Finally, he said “the island.” And how long was he there? Asked the prosecution. “Oh, 2 hours,” said Alessi in a rush, letting his words trail off. Then the prosecution told him to speak directly into the microphone.
Alessi also testified about visiting Ghislaine Maxwell’s town house in London, infamous for being the site where Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts was photographed with Prince Andrew, and where Roberts says she was trafficked by Maxwell to Andrew. Alessi said he went to Maxwell’s house because she had invited him, and that he was only there for about 5 minutes.
Alessi finished his testimony for the day with an emotional description of when he robbed Jeffrey Epstein in 2004, two years after he quit his job. Alessi said that he was under “tremendous pressure” in his marriage and “got involved” with another woman (not romantically, though). He described sneaking through a sliding door, and taking a roll of hundred dollar bills from a bag. In total it was $6,300.
Epstein then called Alessi, saying they needed to talk. Epstein confronted Alessi with a small photograph showing him caught on a camera sneaking in, but decided not to press charges after they “came to an agreement.” Alessi agreed to pay all the money back, something he said he did. After that, said Alessi, he never saw Jeffrey Epstein again.