Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial judge has concluded there was enough proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A decide concluded Friday that there was sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she will solely 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 a number of grounds, together with inadequate 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 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 in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Fairly, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — thrice over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and visitors underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to 3 was not expected to have a lot impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence starting from several years to a long time in prison.

Lawyers for Maxwell did not 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 despite the fact that he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed means too fast” via the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the improper answer to a query about sex abuse.

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

The decide additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could function a good 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.