Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide 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 sufficient evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking women 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 Choose Alison J. Nathan stated 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.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on multiple grounds, including inadequate evidence.

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

Nathan said 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 authorized conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Relatively, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — three times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to a few was not anticipated to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence ranging from several years to decades in prison.

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

Earlier this month, the judge refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to other jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler regardless that he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed way too fast” through the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the incorrect reply to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could function a good and impartial 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.