Judge 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 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 intercourse trafficking women 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 be able to solely be sentenced for one.

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

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

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

Nathan mentioned that she'll only sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts had been duplicates of the third.

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

The discount of counts from five to a few was not expected to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence starting from a number of years to many years in jail.

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

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 despite the fact that he had not revealed that truth in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed means too fast” by means of the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the fallacious answer to a query about sex abuse.

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

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will function a fair 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 sex trafficking trial.