Thread by @ReutersLegal

Here is a brief summary of the main individuals likely to play a major role in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex abuse trial. The British socialite is accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse reut.rs/3D7yZBj 1/8

Starting off with the defendant, Maxwell, who’s 59, rose to prominence as the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell. She moved to N.Y. in the early 1990s and became romantically involved with Epstein 2/8

The accusers include four alleged underage victims. Only one publicly identified herself, Annie Farmer, who stated she was 16 when Epstein abused her in 1996. The other three alleged victims will testify under pseudonyms 3/8

Maxwell’s defense intends to call Elizabeth Loftus, a psychology professor at the University of California at Irvine who argues that people can be manipulated into having "false memories" 4/8

The prosecution, on the other hand, plans to call Lisa Rocchio, a psychologist who has studied how underage sexual abuse victims who have been "groomed" may not immediately recognize their experiences as abuse and sometimes do not come forward until years later 5/8

Alex Rossmiller, Alison Moe, and Maurene Comey are three of the assistant U.S. attorneys litigating the case. They had all been prosecuting Epstein before his death 6/8

Two of Maxwell’s lawyers are N.Y. defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim, who previously represented individuals facing terrorism charges, and Christian Everdell, who worked on the investigation and arrest of convicted drug trafficker Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman as a prosecutor 7/8

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan is presiding over the case in Manhattan federal court. Nathan was nominated earlier this month to serve on the 2nd Circuit but said that while honored, she would rather see the Maxwell trial through to completion 8/8