Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

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, but she also gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical crime and she can solely be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Choose Alison J. Nathan mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts had been “readily supported” by in depth witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys for Maxwell had asked her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, including 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 were duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion by no means 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 girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from five to 3 was not expected to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence starting from several years to decades in prison.

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

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

The juror had stated he “skimmed approach too quick” via the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the wrong reply to a question about sex abuse.

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

The decide also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward 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 personal life in a federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited a intercourse trafficking trial.