Ghislaine Maxwell: Epstein confidante guilty – lawyer wants appeal

Epstein confidante
Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty in abuse lawsuit – attorney wants to challenge verdict

Ghislaine Maxwell, longtime confidante of late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been convicted of sex trafficking in minors. The jury in the responsible federal court in New York found the 60-year-old guilty on five out of six counts on Wednesday. Maxwell now faces a decade-long jail sentence. The sentence will be determined at a later date. Your lawyer has already announced her appointment.

The guilty verdict of the twelve-person jury after around 40 hours of deliberation was unanimous. When Judge Alison Nathan pronounced the verdict, Maxwell, who was sitting in the courtroom, slowly pulled down her corona protective mask and drank water in small sips. She left the room flanked by law enforcement officers with her head bowed.

Prosecutor calls Ghislaine Maxwell “sophisticated sex offender”

The indictment had accused the daughter of the late British media mogul Robert Maxwell of having systematically recruited minors for Epstein for years, who were then sexually abused by the well-connected financial investor. Maxwell therefore partly participated in the abuse himself.

Prosecutor Alison Moe said in her closing statement last week that Maxwell was a “sophisticated sex offender who knew exactly what she was doing”. She was Epstein’s “accomplice” in “terrible crimes” and the “key” in the sexual abuse of minors by the multimillionaire.

The allegations spanned a period between 1994 and 2004. Four alleged Epstein victims testified during the three-week trial. Two of them say they were only 14 years old when the sexual abuse began.

Maxwell’s lawyer “very disappointed”

The prosecution welcomed the guilty verdict against Maxwell on Wednesday. “The road to justice has been far too long,” said prosecutor Damian Williams. “But justice has been done today.”

Maxwell’s attorney, Bobbi Sternheim, said she was “very disappointed with the verdict”. Her team is already working on an appeal and is “confident that she will be right”.

Maxwell, who turned 60 on Christmas Day, had denied all allegations and pleaded not guilty. Her defense argued that the defendant would be made a “scapegoat” because Epstein could no longer be tried after his death.

Epstein, convicted of sex crimes in 2008, was found dead in his New York prison cell after his arrest in August 2019. According to the authorities, the 66-year-old committed suicide.

The extremely wealthy investor, who associated with well-known figures from politics and society such as former President Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, is said to have sexually abused underage girls and young women for years and incited them to prostitution. The British Prince Andrew, a longtime friend of Maxwell’s, is also involved in the abuse scandal.

Prince Andrew’s Prosecutor welcomes verdict

Virginia Giuffre, who Epstein claims to have been loaned to Prince Andrew for sex as a minor, welcomed the verdict on Twitter. “I hope that today is not the end, but a further step to do justice to justice,” wrote Giuffre, who had not testified in the process. Maxwell did not act alone. “Others need to be held accountable. I am confident that they will,” said Guiffre, who is filing a civil case against Prince Andrew herself. This denies the allegations.

Maxwell – once Epstein’s lover and then for years his close confidante and collaborator – was arrested in New Hampshire state in June 2020 and has been in custody ever since. She could spend the rest of her life behind bars: one of the charges carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and the other charges carry five to ten years in prison.

After the verdict was pronounced, her lawyers asked the judge to ensure that the 60-year-old receives a third dose of a corona vaccine in prison – the pandemic is currently particularly raging in New York.

mad / Peter Hutchison, AFP