Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was enough proof 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 evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex 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 identical crime and she will only be sentenced for one.

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

Attorneys for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on multiple grounds, together with insufficient evidence.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.

Nathan said 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 have been duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion on no account calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Slightly, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — thrice over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to 3 was not anticipated to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from a number of years to decades in jail.

Legal professionals for Maxwell did not return messages requesting remark. 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 truth in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed means too quick” through the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the mistaken reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide 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 intercourse trafficking trial.