Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial choose 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 decide concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical crime and she will solely be sentenced for one.

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

Lawyers for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on multiple grounds, together with inadequate proof.

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

Nathan stated that she'll solely sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts were duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion on no account calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Quite, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — 3 times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from five to 3 was not anticipated to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence ranging from a number of years to decades in prison.

Lawyers for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined comment.

Earlier this month, the judge refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to other jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a baby regardless that he had not revealed that truth in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed manner too quick” via the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the fallacious reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse in the course of the jury choice course of was extremely unfortunate, however not deliberate.

The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could 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 sex trafficking trial.