Ghislaine Maxwell portrayed both as scapegoat, predator as trial gets under way - Reuters

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal trial got under way on Monday, with a prosecutor saying the British socialite lured underage girls for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, while a defense lawyer urged jurors not to turn Maxwell into a scapegoat.

Maxwell, 59, is on trial for recruiting and grooming four underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

"The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are for things that Jeffrey Epstein did, but she is not Jeffrey Epstein," Maxwell's lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, said in Manhattan federal court.

Four accusers are expected to testify against Maxwell at the trial, which is expected to last until at least early January.

Sternheim said prosecutors, unable to convict Epstein, are using the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell as a scapegoat.

She told jurors that the memories of Maxwell's accusers had been "manipulated" by lawyers who encouraged them to sue Maxwell and Epstein for damages.

Sternheim said Maxwell's accusers received payouts and that their claims were "enhanced" by cooperating with the government.