Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was sufficient evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking women for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also gave Maxwell a authorized victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she can only be sentenced for one.

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

Lawyers for Maxwell had asked her to reject the decision on a number of grounds, including inadequate proof.

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 have been duplicates of the third.

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

The reduction of counts from 5 to 3 was not anticipated to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell may 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 other jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a child regardless that he had not revealed that truth in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed method too fast” by way of the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the wrong reply to a question about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse throughout the jury choice course of was extremely unlucky, however not deliberate.

The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could function a fair and impartial 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.