Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was sufficient evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A decide concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, however 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 said in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts were “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Lawyers for Maxwell had asked her to reject the decision on a number of grounds, including insufficient evidence.

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

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

The discount of counts from five to 3 was not expected to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence ranging from a number of years to many years in prison.

Legal professionals 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 during jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler 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 approach too fast” through the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the unsuitable reply to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could function a fair 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.