Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial judge 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 sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking women for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally 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 Judge Alison J. Nathan said in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts were “readily supported” by in depth witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on multiple 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 mentioned that she'll solely sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts had been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Quite, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — 3 times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from 5 to three was not expected to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence ranging from several years to many years in jail.

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

Earlier this month, the decide 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 child despite the fact that he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed way too fast” by means 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 reveal his prior sexual abuse through the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate.

The judge also 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.