Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was sufficient 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 sufficient proof 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 only be sentenced for one.

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

Legal professionals for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, including insufficient proof.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage women 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 five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts have been duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion on no account calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Relatively, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — thrice over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to a few was not anticipated to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence ranging from a number of years to a long time in jail.

Lawyers 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 baby regardless that he had not revealed that reality in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed approach too fast” via the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the improper answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse through the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, however not deliberate.

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will function a fair 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 sex trafficking trial.