Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was sufficient proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min read

NEW YORK -- A judge concluded Friday that there was sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also 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 extensive 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 a number of 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 were duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Moderately, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — three times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from 5 to three was not anticipated to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from a number of years to decades in prison.

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

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 although 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 approach too fast” by the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the improper answer to a query about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan said the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury choice process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate.

The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and will 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 intercourse trafficking trial.