Ghislaine Maxwell’s Latest Defense Witness Has Memory Problems

Throughout Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial, her defense attorneys have questioned the reliability of accusers’ memories. On Friday, they called a character witness: Jefrrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Eva Dubin. After her romantic relationship with Epstein ended in the early 1990s, Dubin, with her husband, Glenn Dubin, whom she married in 1994, maintained ties to the disgraced financier. (Glenn Dubin was among the powerful men Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre claimed she was trafficked to have sex with, per 2016 deposition. Both have denied involvement with Epstein’s crimes.) 

There was one thing that stood out about this witness, though: Despite the fact that the defense has focused much of their time trying to discredit the memory testimony of four Epstein accusers, this witness freely admitted on the stand that she couldn’t remember things clearly; she was having memory issues due a potential medical condition. 

After the morning’s slow start  — Maxwell’s lawyers had apparently given Dubin the wrong call time —  Dubin, a licensed physician with chin-length blonde hair, took the stand for a series of questions about her family’s relationship with Epstein. Her three children called him “Uncle F,” and they were fond of each other. They’d all traveled by private jet with him, although she didn’t remember exactly when or how many times. Defense lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca showed Dubin photographs, already in evidence, of Epstein with each of her daughters. “I assume you were aware Mr. Epstein had this,” Pagliuca said of the first photo he showed her, of her youngest daughter with him. “I have never seen this picture before,” she answered. She said she’d never seen the shot of him with her eldest, either.

Pagliuca asked Dubin if she had ever met Jane. “I don’t recall ever meeting this person,” she replied. Then Pagliuca took her through the flight logs pilot David Rodgers had discussed during earlier testimony for the prosecution. He pointed to a half dozen trips and asked whether she remembered any of the other passengers on board. She identified Sophie Biddle as a massage therapist, and said she remembered Jeff Chance (one of Epstein’s attorneys) by name, although she could not remember who he was. “I don’t remember this flight at all,” she said of a 1997 trip. A 1998 trip had Dubin, her husband, her children, and Jane on the log. 

Pagliuca ended by asking Dubin if she had ever participated in a “group sexual encounter” or a “sexualized massage” with the witness known as Jane. “Absolutely not,” she said.

During cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe asked whether Dubin was having issues with her memory. “Yes,” she answered. “It’s very hard for me to remember things very far back, and sometimes I can’t even remember last month.” She said she believed it was related to a medical issue. 

Later in the day, Maxwell spoke to Judge Alison Nathan to answer a question that has been plaguing observers since the trial was announced: “Your honor, the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt, so there is no need for me to testify,” she told the judge.