Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A decide concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she will be able to solely be sentenced for one.

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

Legal professionals for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, including insufficient 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 only 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 question the factual findings made by the jury. Rather, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 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 reduction of counts from five to 3 was not expected to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence starting from several years to decades in jail.

Legal professionals 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 during jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a child though he had not revealed that truth in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed way too fast” through the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the incorrect reply to a query about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the verdict, Nathan said the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse in the course of the jury choice process was highly unlucky, however not deliberate.

The decide additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will function 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 intercourse trafficking trial.