Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking ladies 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 will only be sentenced for one.

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

Legal professionals for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on a number of 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 only sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts had been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion on no account calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Quite, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — thrice over — that the Defendant is guilty 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 a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence ranging from a number of years to a long time in jail.

Legal professionals for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting comment. Prosecutors declined comment.

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

The juror had said he “skimmed approach too fast” by way of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the improper answer to a question about sex abuse.

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

The judge also 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 intercourse trafficking trial.