NEW: Jeffrey Epstein case documents reveal how he and Ghislaine Maxwell lured and sexually abused girls

Court documents unsealed in New York on Friday provide the first detailed look at how Jeffrey Epstein operated what appears to be a vast global sex trafficking racket with the help of alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, and a number of other powerful business and world leaders, reports the Miami Herald.

The documents released Friday are part of thousands of pages in a 2015 federal defamation case involving one of Epstein's victims. The contents are graphic and disturbing, with details on how Epstein and accomplices trafficked teen girls mostly from the U.S. Russia and Sweden.

They also detail Ghislaine Maxwells role as a co-abuser, and very effective recruiter of vulnerable girls.

One accuser said a court deposition that Maxwell recruited her under the guise of a legitimate assistant position, but asked her to perform sexual massages for Epstein, and punished her when she didnt cause Epstein to orgasm.

Another deposed person testified that [Maxwell] contacted him to recruit high school-aged girls for Epstein, and also testified that Maxwell and Epstein participated in multiple threesomes with Virginia Giuffre.

A man working as Epstein's butler witnessed, firsthand, a 15-year-old Swedish girl crying and shaking because [Maxwell] was attempting to force her to have sex with Epstein and she refused, the court documents claim.

The 15-year-old girl said Maxwell tried to force her to have sex with Epstein through threats and stealing her passport.

From the indefatigable Julie K. Brown, without whom Jeffrey Epstein would not be in jail today:

Some of the testimony is difficult to read, as when one 15-year-old Swedish girl, shaking and crying in despair, tells a butler who worked for one of Epsteins closest friends that she had been taken to Epsteins island in the Caribbean and forced to have sex with him and others.