Annie Farmer testifies on the witness stand during the sex abuse trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. A photo of a person is on a screen.
The fourth and final accuser took the stand.
Annie Farmer testified that she was fondled by Maxwell during a visit to the New Mexico ranch.
After Farmer's mother and ex-boyfriend gave corroboration of her story, the government rested their case.
The fourth and final accuser in Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial told her story on Friday, testifying that she was forced to take off her top during a visit to Jeffrey Epstein's vast New Mexico ranch in 1996.
Annie Farmer is the only person to testify in the trial. Carolyn testified using her first name, and two other accusers testified under their real names.
The prosecutors rested their case Friday afternoon. Before she took the stand, US District Judge Alison Nathan told the jury that Annie's testimony should not be considered evidence of illegal sexual activity. Nathan gave similar instructions to Carolyn.
Farmer has told her story to the media before. She first met Epstein when she flew from her home in Arizona to New York City to visit her older sister at the end of 1995 and beginning of 1996. Maria Farmer lived in a 500- square-foot apartment in Manhattan's West Village and was hired by billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein to work on art projects.
In a journal entry before the trip, Annie said she hoped that Epstein would help her get into colleges and get scholarships. Annie was a junior in high school and testified that her mother's household had been hard hit by the divorce of her parents.
Annie testified that she was recommended to travel to help with college applications by the man she met at his Upper East Side mansion. The Farmer sisters were brought to the theater district for a performance of "Phantom of the Opera" by their driver.
On that trip, Annie had another conversation with him. They all watched "12 Monkeys" at the movie theater. Maria and Annie were seated on either side of the movie's main character, and he caredsed her hands, feet, and arms throughout the movie. Annie said she was sick to her stomach over her interactions with the man.
On January 7, 1996, the day Annie returned to Arizona, she expressed ambivalence about the movie-theater caresses. She wrote that she didn't want to jeopardize her sister's employment and didn't want to tell anyone about what happened because she was weirded out. Maria is not being called as a witness in the criminal trial because she has leveled her own allegations against Epstein and his associates.
Annie told the jury Friday that she was trying to come up with excuses to make it seem better.
Annie accepted a topless massage.
Annie didn't meet him in New York. She testified that she met Maxwell on another trip in 1996, after flying to New Mexico to visit the massive Zorro ranch. She testified that she spoke to Annie at least twice over the phone in the months after the New York trip, and that she was interested in helping her get into a good college.
Annie said she was nervous to go on the trip, but was calmed because she believed that Maxwell would be at the ranch. She testified that she didn't think he would make advances on her because she thought he was a girlfriend. When Annie's mother was called to the stand, she said that she had been told that Annie's wife would be with her on the trip.
When she got to the ranch, Annie found out that she and her friends would be staying in the same house. She said that they were the only ones there overnight.
She said it seemed odd seeing how she was when she was a teenager.
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has Jeffrey and Ghislaine.
The jury was identified by Annie by her sweater. In the trial, Maxwell appeared to gulp in response and then seemed to leer at Farmer.
Prosecutors claim that Maxwell was involved in sexual abuse, grooming girls for it, and lying about it in a deposition. They said that the two men sexually abused girls through the guise of massages. The charges have been pleaded not guilty by the man.
She said that in New Mexico, the two men took Annie to watch a movie. Annie said they watched a movie called "Primal Fear," which is about a pedophile priest and the sexual abuse of an altar boy and a teenage girl.
She noted that the movie theater where they took Annie was located in a mall, and that the two men behaved immaturely there. The two adults were joking around and one pulled the other's pants down, which Annie found odd.
Annie said she hoped the movie in New Mexico would be different than the one she saw in New York because she was with someone named Maxwell. She testified that she was touched by Epstein throughout the film.
When they returned to the ranch after the movie, Annie was told to massage Epstein's feet, but she testified that she felt uncomfortable. Annie said that she was told that she would give Farmer a massage.
Annie testified that she was told to undress under a sheet on top of a massage table in the bedroom where she was staying. Annie said that at the point when she was told to lie on her back, Maxwell pulled down the sheet and touched her breasts.
She testified that when she pulled down the sheet, she was frozen. I wanted the massage to end badly.
Annie said she believed that Maxwell left the door open and that she would be able to see her topless.
He said he wanted to be with someone.
Annie said that the morning after the massage, she was bound into the room.
She testified that he wanted to cuddle. He got into the bed with me.
She said that he put his arms around Annie. Annie said that she told Epstein that she needed to go to the bathroom and slip out of bed. She said that she waited in the bathroom until Epstein left because she was alone in the house with two strangers.
Annie wanted the week to be over.
Ghislaine was listening to the opening statement from defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim.
She told the jury that a pattern of them confusing her boundaries was part of the behavior of the two men. She testified that the pair made her question what she thought was right or not right, with the ultimate goal of sexually abusing her.
Annie didn't write anything about the weekend in her journal when she returned to Arizona.
Annie testified that she wanted to get it out of her mind.
Her mother testified that when she picked Annie up from the airport, she was very quiet and withdrawn. Annie said she didn't want to get into it, so she didn't talk to her mother about it.
"She always said that she was not going to let it ruin her life, and that's what she always said."
Annie said that she accepted funding from the company to go on a cultural service trip to Vietnam and Thailand in the summer of 2016 in order to help with college applications. She didn't see either of them at any point after accepting the funding.
She said she didn't tell anyone about her experience in New Mexico until the fall, when she disclosed some information to her boyfriend.
After they started dating, Annie told Mulligan about the trip to New Mexico. Annie described the person who greeted her as "very charming and pretty." He said that his former girlfriend was frightened, awkward, and powerless by the massage.
Annie told the jury that her experiences with Maxwell and Epstein were very upsetting and confusing, and that she didn't want to think about it for a long time.
Annie said that at a certain point she felt compelled. It would be worth it if I could help with accountability or stop these people.
She hopes Ghislaine Maxwell is held accountable for the harm she's caused.
During her testimony, Annie talked about how she kept a pair of cowboy boots that she got from Epstein. The fact that she kept the boots proved that Annie wasn't "scarred by what happened," according to the opening statements.
When Annie returned to Arizona, she put the boots in the back of her closet, but dusted them off a few years later.
It was a bad memory. She said that she was changing that by using the boots. Restoring it in a different way.
The original article is on Insider.
