Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial judge 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 decide concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, however she also 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 Choose Alison J. Nathan stated in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts were “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Attorneys 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 said 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 were duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion in no way calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Moderately, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — thrice over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and visitors underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The discount of counts from five to a few was not expected to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell might face a sentence starting from a number of years to decades in prison.

Legal professionals 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 other jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a baby despite the fact that he had not revealed that truth in response to questions about prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had said he “skimmed manner too fast” via the questionnaire and did not deliberately give the fallacious reply to a query about intercourse abuse.

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

The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and will serve as a good and impartial 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 sex trafficking trial.