Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial judge has concluded there was sufficient proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, however she additionally gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she can only be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Decide Alison J. Nathan mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts have been “readily supported” by in depth 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 solely 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 legal conclusion by no means calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Fairly, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — three times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from five to three was not expected to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence starting from several years to decades in prison.

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

Earlier this month, the choose refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to different jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler despite the fact that he had not revealed that reality in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed means too quick” by means of the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the unsuitable reply to a query about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan stated the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse in the course of the jury selection process was extremely unfortunate, however not deliberate.

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could serve as a fair and neutral 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.