Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial decide 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 decide concluded Friday that there was sufficient 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 mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts had been “readily supported” by in depth witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, together with inadequate evidence.

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

Nathan said that she'll only sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts have been duplicates of the third.

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

The reduction of counts from five to 3 was not expected to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from several years to a long time in prison.

Attorneys for Maxwell did not return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined comment.

Earlier this month, the choose 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 baby even though 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 means too fast” by the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the mistaken answer to a query about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the verdict, Nathan said the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse through the jury choice course of was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate.

The choose also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward 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 personal life in a federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited a intercourse trafficking trial.