Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was sufficient evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related 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 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 solely be sentenced for one.

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

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

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage ladies 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 five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts have been duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion in no way calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Relatively, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — thrice over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

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

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

Earlier this month, the decide refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to different jurors during jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler even 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 way too quick” via the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the fallacious reply to a query about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the verdict, Nathan stated the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse in the course of the jury selection process was highly unlucky, but not deliberate.

The decide additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as 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.