Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime house manager in his home in Palm Beach, Florida, read aloud from an instruction booklet Ghislaine Maxwell gave him in 2001 or 2002 that instructed staff in detail how to handle Epstein’s homes.
When Juan Alessi, the manager, testified in federal court and said that Most of the pages were just unbelievable to him.
“I’m sorry to say that it was very degrading to me,” he said.
Alessi read the manual that instructed staff to maintain extreme discretion for Epstein, Maxwell and their guests.
“Remember that you see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing except to answer a question directed at you. Respect their privacy,” Alessi read from the manual, adding that this meant a kind of warning that he was supposed to be blind, deaf and dumb, to say nothing of their lives.
“Unless otherwise instructed NEVER disclose Mr. Epstein or Ms. Maxwell’s activities or whereabouts to anyone. If the caller is insistent you simply ask them to take a message, a time, a number where the caller can be reached. Do not be bullied and do not show any reaction or impatience. Simply be firm,” Alessi read from the manual.
The trial has also revealed some of Epstein’s connections to high-profile figures like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, but none of them was accused of anything wrong in relation to the ongoing trial.
Epstein was found guilty in 2008 for prostitution charges, and he was also indicted on federal trafficking charges in July 2019 but only a month later died by suicide in prison. While Maxwell, Epstein’s close confidante, was arrested a year afterward and has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said on the recent trial that Maxwell and Epstein created a “pyramid scheme of abuse” to lure underage girls into physical relationships with Epstein. But her defense said she was a “scapegoat” for Epstein’s actions and attacked the memories and motivations of the women who say they were abused.
Alessi first met Maxwell in 1991 and understood her to be Epstein’s girlfriend, saying that from the day she came to the house, she right away took over and she mentioned to him that she was going to be the lady of the house and that she was also in charge of other homes too.
He also testified that his own relationship with Epstein got worse from “cordial” to strictly professional over the decade he worked for him.
About the end of his employment, Alessi said Maxwell told him, “Jeffrey doesn’t like when you look at his eyes. You should never look at his eyes, just look at another part of the room and answer to him.”
According to Alessi, Maxwell was with Epstein “95 percent” of the time when he’d stay at the Palm Beach house.
“There were many, many, many females that came through Epstein’s Palm Beach home during his time working there. When women sat by the pool they’d be topless 75% to 80% of the time hanging out with Maxwell and Epstein,” he said.
He remembered that two underaged girls came to the house: “Jane,” who testified earlier this week that Maxwell and Epstein abused her, and Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has previously accused Epstein of abuse, saying that Jane came to the house “at least three times” with her mother and several other times by herself. He also testified that he personally picked her up more than once to bring her to Epstein’s Palm Beach home and so did his wife.
One hot day he drove Maxwell around in a convertible to all the luxury spas and country clubs in Palm Beach County, at one point Maxwell told him to stop the car as they were driving out of the parking lot from Mar-a-Lago. Maxwell got out of the car and spoke to a young blonde in a white uniform that he later learned was Virginia Roberts. The girl later came to Epstein’s Palm Beach house, Alessi walked her to Maxwell at her desk and did not see where they went or what they did after that, he testified.
He said that he was the driver when Roberts got onto the tarmac with Epstein, Maxwell, and others on more than one occasion, so that is why he is sure that Roberts and the group got onto the plane.
Alessi testified that Maxwell, Epstein or someone from Epstein’s New York office would tell him to schedule a massage for Epstein occasionally: “I went to my office and I had a Rolodex with all the massage therapists and whoever they told me to call, I would call…. It was all different times of day. It was a massage in the morning, massage in the afternoon, and some of the massages after dinner, after the movies. They were scheduled to come after the movies 10-11 o’clock at night.”
He also said that he never saw any behavior suggesting distress or fear from women coming to give Epstein a massage.
“No they never did, but I wish they could have done because I would have done something to stop it,” Alessi said.