Judge 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 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 will be able to only 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 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 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 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts were duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion on no account calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Rather, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — 3 times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to three was not expected to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from several years to a long time in jail.

Attorneys for Maxwell did not return messages requesting comment. Prosecutors declined comment.

Earlier this month, the judge 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 baby though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed way too quick” via the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the wrong reply to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The choose also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could function 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.