Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial judge has concluded there was sufficient evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she will only 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 evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on a number of grounds, together with insufficient evidence.

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

Nathan said that she'll only sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts have been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion under no circumstances calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Rather, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — three times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and visitors underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from 5 to three was not expected to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence ranging from several years to decades in prison.

Legal professionals for Maxwell did not return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined remark.

Earlier this month, the judge 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 about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

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

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

The judge additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and will serve as a good and impartial juror.”

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