Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking girls 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 Judge Alison J. Nathan stated in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts have been “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had asked her to reject the decision on a number of grounds, including insufficient evidence.

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

Nathan stated that she'll only 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 legal conclusion under no circumstances calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Moderately, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — three times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and visitors underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to a few was not expected to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence starting from a number of years to many years in prison.

Lawyers 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 other jurors during jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a child despite the fact that he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed approach too fast” by means of the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the incorrect answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The judge additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could function 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 intercourse trafficking trial.