Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was enough evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex 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 be able to only be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts were “readily supported” by in depth witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had requested her to reject the verdict on multiple grounds, including insufficient 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 solely sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts were duplicates of the third.

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

The reduction of counts from five to a few was not anticipated to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence starting from several years to a long time in prison.

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

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

The juror had stated he “skimmed method too quick” via the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the mistaken answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan said the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse through the jury selection process was extremely unlucky, 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 own life in a federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited a sex trafficking trial.