Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex 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 intercourse trafficking women for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, however she also gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical 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 responsible verdicts have been “readily supported” by intensive witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, including insufficient proof.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage women 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 have been duplicates of the third.

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

The reduction of counts from 5 to 3 was not expected to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell may face a sentence starting from several years to decades in jail.

Lawyers for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined remark.

Earlier this month, the judge 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 regardless that he had not revealed that truth in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed manner too quick” by way of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the fallacious answer to a question about sex 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 highly unlucky, but not deliberate.

The judge additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a good 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 intercourse trafficking trial.