Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial choose 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 learn

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was sufficient 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 same crime and she will only be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Decide Alison J. Nathan said 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 insufficient proof.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage ladies 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 on no account calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Slightly, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 3 times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from five to a few was not anticipated to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from a number of years to a long time in prison.

Attorneys for Maxwell did not return messages requesting comment. Prosecutors declined comment.

Earlier this month, the choose 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 even though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed way too quick” by means of the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the flawed reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the verdict, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse through the jury selection process was extremely unlucky, but not deliberate.

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a fair 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 intercourse trafficking trial.