Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A decide concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex 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 mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts had been “readily supported” by in depth witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had requested 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 only 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 in no way calls into query the factual findings made by the jury. Relatively, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — three times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage women for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from five to 3 was not anticipated to have much effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence starting from several years to decades in prison.

Legal professionals for Maxwell did not 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 during jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a toddler even though he had not revealed that truth in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed way too fast” by means of the questionnaire and didn't intentionally give the unsuitable reply to a question about intercourse abuse.

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

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward 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.