Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction

A trial choose has concluded there was sufficient evidence to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A choose concluded Friday that there was enough proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking women for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she can solely be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Choose Alison J. Nathan mentioned in her written ruling that the jury’s responsible verdicts have 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, together with insufficient proof.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.

Nathan stated that she'll only sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the 5 counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts had been duplicates of the third.

“This legal conclusion under no circumstances calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Slightly, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — 3 times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage girls for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

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

Attorneys for Maxwell did not return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined comment.

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 child though 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 method too fast” by means of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the incorrect answer to a question about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the verdict, Nathan stated the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury choice course of was extremely unfortunate, but not deliberate.

The decide also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and will serve as a fair and neutral 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.