British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was indicted on five federal sex trafficking charges on Wednesday, a jury concluded played a key role In recruiting and preparing teenage girls for sexual exploitation by his close confidant, the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein,
Maxwell was found guilty of five of the six federal counts and faced up to 65 years in prison. The judge has not yet set a sentencing date.
A jury of six men and six women delivered a verdict in a federal sex trafficking trial in New York City on Wednesday after six days of deliberation that booked the holiday weekend. As the deliberations progressed, Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw the case, worried that omicron version And rising coronavirus cases in the city could lead to misunderstandings and told the jury that if a verdict was not reached, it would have to deliberate over the holiday weekend.
Late Wednesday, however, the jury reached its conclusion.
Maxwell’s guilty charges include conspiracy to entice minor to travel to engage in illegal sexual acts, conspiracy to transport minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transport minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity Conspiracy to have sex. Trafficking of minors and sex trafficking of minors.
He was found not guilty of enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, which carried a sentence of five years.
As the verdict was read out, Maxwell appeared to sit still and did not look back at the crowd behind him. Once the jury foreman had finished reading, Maxwell poured himself a cup of water, drank it and honored one of his lawyers, Jeffrey Pagliuca, who sat to his right.
After one of Maxwell’s lawyers confirmed that she could get a booster shot while in custody, the former socialite briefly looked at her siblings who were sitting in the front row and before being taken away.
Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Maxwell and Epstein’s first victims to move on but was not one of the victims named in the case, said she “will remember this day forever.”
Giuffre said, “After living with the horrors of Maxwell’s abuse, my heart goes out to the many other girls and young women who suffered at his hands and whose lives he destroyed.”
“I hope today is not the end, but one more step towards justice,” Giuffre said. “Maxwell didn’t act alone. Others should be held accountable. I believe they will be.”
Giuffre alleges in a civil lawsuit that Maxwell smuggled her Prince Andrew, a son of Queen Elizabeth II, when she was 17 years old. He has denied the allegations.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York said the jury found Maxwell guilty of “one of the worst crimes he ever committed” with “his longtime partner and co-conspirator, Jeffrey Epstein.” ,
“The road to justice is very long. But, justice has been done today.” He said, “I want to appreciate the bravery of the girls who have grown up now. His courage and willingness to face the abuse made this case and the outcome possible today.”
Sigrid McCauley, attorney for victim Anne Farmer in the Maxwell trial, said the verdict made clear that abusing and trafficking minors was a serious crime.
“Today’s verdict is a major victory not only for the brave women who testified in this trial, but for women around the world whose young and tender lives were cut short and damaged by the heinous actions of Ghislaine Maxwell,” she said. said.
The jury weighed the evidence and testimony of about 30 witnesses over three weeks.
Maxwell, who turned 60 on Christmas Day, has been in jail since then Arrest in July 2020, The trial made headlines in lower Manhattan, bringing the daughter of publishing magnate Robert Maxwell – once a fixture in New York’s high society – to headlines over her relationship with Epstein.
The jury, which began deliberations on the Monday before Christmas, asked to review the testimony of four women who testified against Maxwell, as well as Epstein’s former housekeeper Juan Patricio Alesi, who testified that he had visited Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. I regularly saw two women.
The judge asked the jury if they would like to continue deliberations on Thursday, but they declined before the holiday weekend. On Monday, they returned and requested transcripts of further testimony, highlighters, a white paper board, Post-It notes, and a definition of the word “allure.”
Maxwell’s defense team argued that it was the financier who pulled the strings and federal prosecutors only sought to take him down because Epstein, a convicted sex abuser, was hanged in a manhattan prison cell Two years ago as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges.
Defense attorney Laura Meninger said in closing arguments, “Here’s trying to get him to be with Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe it was the biggest mistake of his life, but it wasn’t a crime.”
But prosecutors argued that Maxwell was not a reluctant partner as his lawyers had portrayed him, and was “known as” at Epstein’s Florida estate.Lady of the houseWhile several women before Epstein’s death came forward with allegations that he sexually assaulted her, with some claiming that Maxwell helped lead them to other powerful men, prosecutors focused their case on the testimony of the four accused.
Those women provided graphic accounts of how they say that Maxwell “dressed” them as young girls to have sex with Epstein. pressurized them to massage, in which she sometimes groped them herself. Maxwell mostly denied having helped and involved in the trafficking of young girls in the 1990s.
Maxwell was charged with six counts for alleged acts committed between 1994 and 1997, and again in 2016 for allegedly lying to investigators. He was also charged with perjury, though those cases will be tried separately.
One of the accusers, who went by the pseudonym Jane, testified that she was just 14 when Maxwell and Epstein saw her at a Michigan art camp. Her sexual abuse allegations helped prosecutors establish several cases in the federal court.
But the memory of the accused was questioned during the trial, as Maxwell’s defense team isolated discrepancies in their testimony and called in an expert witness specializing in psychology to explain how their memories “contaminated” over time. May be. He also suggested that the accusers should only be a . were chasing millions of dollars in payments from Special fund to compensate Epstein victims after his death. Roughly $121 million has been given to about 150 victims this summer.
Federal prosecutors hit back at those charges at trial, telling jurors that Maxwell covered for Epstein and “never thought teenage girls would stand before him.”
“If they just wanted the money, they could have left when the check cleared,” said the assistant US attorney. Maureen Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.