Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was enough 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, but she also gave Maxwell a authorized 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 stated in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts were “readily supported” by intensive witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on multiple grounds, including inadequate evidence.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.

Nathan mentioned 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 have been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion under no circumstances calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Fairly, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 3 times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and visitors underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from 5 to a few was not expected to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence starting from several years to many years in prison.

Attorneys 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 other jurors during jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a child even 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 manner too fast” by way of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the improper reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

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