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LEGAL ENGLISH · BREAKING NEWS · ADVANCED (C1-C2)

GHISLAINE
MAXWELL
FOUND GUILTY
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1 Warm up
In pairs, look at the pictures and answer the following questions.

picture 1 picture 2 picture 3

picture 4 picture 5 picture 6

1. What do you know about Ghislaine Maxwell?

2. Who are the people in the photographs above?

3. How are the people in the photographs connected to Ghislaine Maxwell?

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GHISLAINE MAXWELL FOUND GUILTY

2 Listening
Look at the following sentences and decide if they are True (T) or False (F).

1. Robert Maxwell was Ghislaine’s uncle.

2. Four victims testified at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial.

3. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of four crimes.

4. Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein had a romantic connection in the past.

5. Ghislaine Maxwell introduced Jeffrey Epstein to Prince William.

6. Ghislaine Maxwell never met Virginia Giuffre.

Now listen to the Breaking News report and check if your answers were correct.

3 Legal language (optional exercise)

Choose the correct word (a - c) that fits the definition.

1. very quick to sue or take someone to court

a. perjury b. litigious c. testify

2. someone who is guilty of illegal sexual acts

a. verdict b. sex trafficking c. sex offender

3. persuading underage children to do something illegal

a. sex offender b. litigious c. enticement of minors

4. telling a lie in court after swearing to tell the truth

a. testify b. perjury c. litigious

5. the official decision of whether someone is guilty or not guilty in court

a. litigious b. perjury c. verdict

6. to be forced to be responsible for your actions

a. to be held accountable b. enticement of minors c. testify

7. to say that something happened or something is true in a court of law

a. litigious b. testify c. perjury

8. the crime of buying and selling people for the purpose of illegal sexual activity

a. perjury b. sex offender c. sex trafficking

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4 Finding vocabulary: reading

Find words and phrases in the article on page four which mean the same as the following.

1. (n): someone who has a lot of power due to the amount of money that they
have (Para. A)
2. (n): a state of unconsciousness, often over a long period of time, caused by
illness or trauma (Para. A)
3. (adj.): extremely upset and emotional (Para. A)

4. (v): incredibly angry while trying to contain the anger (Para. A)

5. (idiom): ruined and in pieces (Para. C)

6. (phrase): pretending to be something (Para. C)

7. (n): the way someone looks and acts (Para. C)

8. (n): a feeling of comfort following sadness or disappointment (Para. E)

5 Reading for gist (optional exercise)

Quickly read the article on page four and match the titles to the paragraphs. You will not need two
of them.

a. Finally, some justice

b. The beginning of an evil partnership

c. How the FBI caught the criminals

d. The controversial father figure

e. Comfort for the victims

f. Where the money comes from

g. Ghislaine’s early life

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The life of Ghislaine Maxwell

From privilege to prison
A. Ghislaine Maxwell was born into money and privilege as the youngest daughter of her mother, Betty Maxwell and
her father, Robert Maxwell the plutocrat Publishing magnate. Wealth, however, didn’t insulate her family from
tragedy and only 3 days after her birth, her 15-year-old brother, Michael, would be involved in a car accident that
put him in a coma for the remaining seven years of his life. This heart-breaking disaster left the young Ghislaine
forgotten by her emotionally distraught parents, until the age of three when she announced "Mummy, I exist."
From this point, her parents overcompensated with their attentions and, although her father would frequently
seethe with anger at all nine of his offspring, Ghislaine was reportedly the favourite.

B. Robert Maxwell was a controversial and well-known figure in Britain. Having escaped extreme poverty in the
Jewish settlement he was born into in the former Czechoslovakia, he became a British war hero and was awarded
the Military Cross for his actions. In 1964, he was elected to Parliament, where he served for six years and later
went on to buy Mirror Group newspapers, which published six British newspapers. He was known for being a
bully as a businessman, and extremely litigious, inspiring loyalty and hate in equal measure. His death on the 4th
November, 1991 was surrounded by a certain amount of mystery. He went missing from his yacht, named Lady
Ghislaine, and later, his naked, dead body was discovered floating in the sea. It was suspected that he had a heart
attack while urinating into the sea and fell overboard, though there was no official consensus on the cause of
death. It was only after this that it was discovered that Maxwell had stolen millions from his companies’ pension
funds, debts which were partly repaid by the government’s public funds.

C. With the Maxwell name in tatters in her native Britain, Ghislaine headed for New York in 1991 with her £80,000
per year trust fund. It was shortly after this that she started a romantic relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, an
extremely wealthy businessman with strong political and business connections and homes in Miami, New York,
New Mexico and Paris, as well as his own island in the US Virgin Islands. Together, Epstein and Maxwell used their
wealth to gain the trust of girls as young as fourteen and sexually assault them. This would often be done under
the guise of asking the victims to give Epstein a massage which would get them alone. Maxwell devised a scheme
where she would pay young girls to recruit other girls for Epstein’s massages, leading to them both being able
to abuse dozens of teenage girls. These experiences were devastating to the young victims, with many of them
experiencing mental health issues later in life. Maxwell’s charming personality and polite demeanour enabled her
to easily gain the trust of the girls in her care. However, once that trust was gained, Maxwell showed the bullying
side which had been so clearly visible in her father, and would threaten the girls to keep quiet about what had
happened to them.

D. In July 2019, after over a decade of attempts by the victims to get justice for what had happened to them, Jeffrey
Epstein was arrested by the FBI and jailed on sex trafficking charges. However, on August 10th, he was found
dead in his cell having apparently hanged himself, although there was a great deal of controversy surrounding the
details of how that could have happened. Following this, and given her close links to the convicted sex offender,
it was only a matter of time before the law turned its attention to Ghislaine Maxwell. She was finally arrested on
2nd July, 2020 and charged with six federal crimes, including enticement of minors, trafficking of children, and
perjury. On Wednesday 29th December, 2021, four days after her 60th birthday, Ghislaine Maxwell was found
guilty of five of those charges and faces up to 65 years in prison.

E. In a statement following the verdict, one of the four women who testified in court, Annie Farmer, said, "I am
so relieved and grateful that the jury recognised the pattern of predatory behaviour that Maxwell engaged in
for years. She has caused hurt to many more women than the few of us that had the chance to testify in the
courtroom. I hope that this verdict brings solace to all who need it and demonstrates that no one is above the
law. Even those with great power and privilege will be held accountable when they sexually abuse and exploit the
young." - Sources: The Guardian, BBC, CBS News, Reddit

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6 Reading comprehension

Decide if the following statements are True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG).

1. Ghislaine’s father’s family was very poor when he was born.

2. Ghislaine’s father was a war hero and everyone loved him.

3. Ghislaine’s entire family were devastated when her father died in unclear circumstances.

4. Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein committed all of their crimes on Epstein’s private island so
that it was harder to prove.

5. Ghislaine Maxwell used some of the teenage girls to contact other teenage girls to do massages
for them.

6. There is clear agreement on how Jeffrey Epstein died.

7. All of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s victims testified in the courtroom during the trial.

7 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the words and phrases to the definitions.

1. suicide watch (n) a. observing someone in a secure situation to prevent them from
killing themselves
2. falsify (v) b. crazy, foolish or dangerous

3. cover up (phr. v) c. not happening often and not expected

4. untoward (adj.) d. showing lack of attention or care

5. sloppy (adj.) e. using scientific ways of detecting evidence of crime

6. forensic (adj.) f. very bizarre and unusual

7. insane (adj.) g. take action to prevent people knowing the truth about an event

8. outlandish (adj.) h. change a record of something to make it untrue, usually to hide

something

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Part B: Now put the vocabulary from Part A into the correct gaps in the following sentences. You may
have to change the form of the word.

1. I found the book very hard to read. I thought his writing was really , as though no
one had edited it.

2. We should arrive by 5 pm unless anything happens, like a tornado!

3. I was so embarrassed when my dad walked in as he was wearing this ridiculously

hat that literally everyone was looking at!

4. I could swear I parked the car right here. Where did I park it then? I feel like I’m going .

5. Going to jail pushed her into a deep depression and she was quickly placed on .

6. There was a public outcry after it was discovered the police had attempted to the
sexual assault to protect one of their colleagues.

7. Samples of the victim’s clothing have been taken to a laboratory for testing.

8. The school was found to have been exam scores to boost its reputation.

Now in pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What is the most untoward situation that you have ever been in?
2. Have there been any news stories in your country where people in authority have tried to cover
up something and were later found out? What happened?
3. Do you think now we have forensic methods of detecting crime, it makes fewer people commit
them? Why/Why not?
4. What is the most outlandish idea you have ever had? Did you do anything about it?
5. If it protected someone you loved, would you falsify an official document for them?
6. What is the most insane thing you have seen someone do in a video?
7. In what situation have you thought someone’s work was sloppy? What happened?

8 Listening comprehension
Listen to two people discussing Jeffrey Epstein’s death. Which of the following information was Given
(G) and Not Given (NG) in the conversation?

1. How Ghislaine Maxwell is connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s death.

2. The length of time that the guards failed to check the cells.

3. The number of cameras which were not working properly in the prison.

4. Details of crimes that former US presidents were guilty of.

5. A defence of how a bone in Jeffrey Epstein’s neck could have been broken by hanging.

6. Examples of why the death was thought to be suspicious

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9 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What do you think about Jeffrey Epstein’s death? Do you think it was suspicious? Or do you think
people are just trying to create a conspiracy theory? Why?
2. Do you think Maxwell and Epstein would have been able to commit those crimes if they hadn’t
been very rich? Why/Why not?
3. Why do you think people like Epstein and Maxwell act in the way that they do? Are they just evil,
or is it something more complex?
4. Are there any examples of very rich people in your country acting in a criminal way and getting
caught? What happened?

10 Extended activity/homework

Read the following question.

When people are able to have an excessive amount of money, it leads to them believing that
they are better than other people and so they are more likely to treat other people poorly.
It is true that "Money is the root of all evil."
• To what extent do you agree with the above statement?

You should:

• Write at least 250 words

• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation

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