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 Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A decide concluded Friday that there was sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally 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 stated in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts were “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys for Maxwell had asked her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, including insufficient evidence.

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

Nathan said 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 in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Rather, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — three times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and visitors underage ladies 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 may face a sentence ranging from a number of years to decades in prison.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined comment.

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 even though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed way too fast” by means of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the flawed reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a fair 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.