Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial judge has concluded there was sufficient proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical crime and she will be able to only be sentenced for one.

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

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, together with inadequate proof.

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

Nathan stated 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 question the factual findings made by the jury. Moderately, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — 3 times 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 5 to three was not anticipated to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell might 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 judge refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to different jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler although he had not revealed that fact in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed manner too fast” through the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the wrong reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse throughout the jury choice process was extremely unfortunate, however not deliberate.

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could function a good and impartial 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 sex trafficking trial.