Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was enough evidence 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 sufficient evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also 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 mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts were “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 a number of grounds, including insufficient evidence.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage girls 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 were duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion under no circumstances calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Fairly, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 3 times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to three was not anticipated to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence ranging from several years to decades in jail.

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

Earlier this month, the decide 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 child even though he had not revealed that truth in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed way too quick” by way of the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the unsuitable answer to a query about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection course of was extremely unlucky, but not deliberate.

The choose also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will serve as a good 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 sex trafficking trial.