Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial judge has concluded there was sufficient evidence 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 proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, however 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 proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, including inadequate 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 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts were duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Relatively, 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 women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to three was not anticipated to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from several years to a long time in prison.

Lawyers for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting comment. 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 toddler regardless that he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed way too quick” by the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the flawed answer to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could 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.