Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial choose 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 choose concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking women 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 Decide Alison J. Nathan mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty 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, including inadequate 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 legal conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Slightly, 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 girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to a few was not anticipated to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence ranging from several years to decades in prison.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not return messages requesting comment. Prosecutors declined comment.

Earlier this month, the decide 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 toddler although he had not revealed that truth in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed means too quick” by means of the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the mistaken reply to a question about sex abuse.

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

The judge additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a fair and neutral 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 sex trafficking trial.