Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was enough proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A choose concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking ladies 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 only be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan mentioned 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.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, including inadequate 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 have been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Relatively, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — 3 times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to 3 was not expected to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence ranging from several years to decades in jail.

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

Earlier this month, the judge 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 though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed approach too quick” through the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the fallacious reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could serve as 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 intercourse trafficking trial.