Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was sufficient evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A choose concluded Friday that there was sufficient evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking women for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical crime and she will be able to solely be sentenced for one.

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

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on a number of 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. Quite, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 3 times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and 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 may face a sentence ranging from several years to a long time in prison.

Attorneys for Maxwell did not return messages requesting comment. 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 despite the fact that he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed way too fast” through the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the wrong answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan stated the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury choice process was highly unlucky, but not deliberate.

The decide additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards 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 own life in a federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited a sex trafficking trial.