Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was enough evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

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

U.S. District Judge 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.

Attorneys for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on a number of grounds, including inadequate proof.

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

“This authorized conclusion in no way calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Rather, 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 ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to a few was not expected to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from a number of years to decades in jail.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not return messages requesting comment. 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 baby regardless that he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed method too fast” through the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the fallacious answer to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards 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 intercourse trafficking trial.