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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Justin Vallejo

Ghislaine Maxwell: Pilot says Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Trump flew on Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’

The pilot of the so-called “Lolita Express” testified during the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell that he flew presidents, princes and Hollywood stars on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jets for 30 years.

Larry Visoski told the court on Tuesday that he remembered Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Kevin Spacey being among the passengers.

Mr Visoski name-dropped the high-profile passengers, along with actor Chris Tucker and violinist Itzhak Perlman, when asked during cross-examination if he remembered them specifically.

He also recalled meeting Virginia Giuffre in the 1990s, describing her as a shorter woman with dirty blonde hair who “didn’t look young”.

Follow live updates on the Ghislaine Maxwell trial

Ms Giuffre has brought a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew in a separate case alleging sexual assault; claims that the Duke strenuously denies and is battling in court.

Prosecutors used Mr Visoski’s testimony to describe the multiple residences and aircraft of Mr Epstein, including helicopters and the private jets that became known as the “Lolita Express”.

When he first began working for Mr Epstein in 1991, the plane was a Gulfstream with leather chairs and burgundy carpet. It was upgraded in 2001 to a larger Boeing 727 with multiple areas, a full kitchen, and the “round room” outfitted with a doughnut-shaped couch.

Ms Maxwell, 59, is accused of grooming four underage girls between 1994 and 2004 and flying them to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. Some of the abuses are also alleged to have occurred at his Manhattan townhouse, a ranch in New Mexico, an apartment in Paris, and on his estate in the Virgin Islands.

Mr Visoski testified that he flew Epstein to his various properties every four days or so, and to his Caribbean island about every 10 days.

“It was a regular destination,” he said.

Mr Visoski said the cockpit door was always closed, but not at the direction of Epstein, and that he had been invited to walk to the back of the plane if he needed to use the bathroom.

He testified that couldn’t see everything happening on the plane while flying, but that he never witnessed sexual activity. And he “certainly did not” see any sex acts with underage girls, he added under cross-examination.

The prosecution showed the jury the birth certificate of one girl who flew on the plane identified anonymously in court as “Jane”, a singer who Epstein brought into the cockpit.

Mr Visoski remembered her as a “mature” woman with “piercing, powder blue eyes”.

Federal prosecutors led their opening statement telling the jury the story “about a young girl named Jane” who they described as a 14-year-old who met Epstein and Ms Maxwell at a camp.

“What Jane didn’t know then is that man and woman were predators,” assistant US attorney Lara Elizabeth Pomerantz told jurors the first day of the hearing.

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