Choose upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

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

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A choose concluded Friday that there was sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of intercourse trafficking ladies 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 will be able to solely be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Decide Alison J. Nathan stated 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.

Lawyers for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on a number of grounds, together with inadequate evidence.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage ladies 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 have been duplicates of the third.

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

The reduction of counts from five to a few was not expected to have a lot effect on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence starting from several years to many years in jail.

Lawyers for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined remark.

Earlier this month, the choose 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 though he had not revealed that reality in response to questions about prior sex abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had stated he “skimmed means too quick” by way of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the unsuitable answer to a question about sex abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection course of was highly unfortunate, however not deliberate.

The judge additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and will function a good and neutral 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.