Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was enough proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A decide concluded Friday that there was sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse 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 identical crime and she can solely be sentenced for one.

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

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, together with inadequate proof.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage women 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 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts had been duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion by no means calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Somewhat, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — three times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from 5 to 3 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 prison.

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

Earlier this month, the choose 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 child although he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed way too quick” via the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the improper answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The judge additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will function a good and impartial 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.