Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial judge has concluded there was enough proof 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 sex trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical crime and she will solely be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Decide Alison J. Nathan said in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts have been “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys for Maxwell had asked her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, together with inadequate evidence.

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

Nathan mentioned 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 had been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion by no means calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Somewhat, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — thrice over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

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

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

Earlier this month, the decide 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 toddler even though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed manner too quick” by the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the incorrect answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The decide also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could function 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 sex trafficking trial.