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 learn

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 authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she will be able to only be sentenced for one.

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

Lawyers for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, together with 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 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts had been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion by no means calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Reasonably, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — thrice over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to 3 was not anticipated to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence starting from a number of years to a long time in prison.

Attorneys for Maxwell did not return messages requesting comment. 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 child even though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed method too fast” by means of the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the mistaken answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could serve as a good and neutral 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.