Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was enough evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A choose concluded Friday that there was sufficient evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she can solely be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Choose Alison J. Nathan said in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts had been “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, together with insufficient proof.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.

Nathan mentioned that she'll solely sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts were duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Reasonably, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 3 times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to three was not anticipated to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence starting from a number of years to decades in jail.

Legal professionals for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined remark.

Earlier this month, the decide refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to different jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler though he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed way too quick” by the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the fallacious answer to a question about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the verdict, Nathan stated the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse through the jury choice process was extremely unfortunate, but not deliberate.

The choose also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will serve as a good and neutral juror.”

Maxwell, arrested in July 2020, has remained incarcerated. Epstein was 66 when he took his personal life in a federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited a intercourse trafficking trial.