Socialite Maxwell convicted for sex trafficking
January 7, 2022 · By Agence France-Presse for www.manilatimes.net
This file combination of pictures created on July 2, 2020 shows Ghislaine Maxwell (left) and Jeffrey Epstein.
Socialite Maxwell convicted for sex trafficking
NEW YORK: British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, who turned 60 on Christmas Day, was convicted by a 12-person jury of 5 of the 6 counts she was facing, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor.
She sat passively in the Manhattan courtroom, slowly removing her mask to take sips of water, as Judge Alison Nathan read out the verdicts, reached after five full days of deliberation by the jury.
Afterwards, Maxwell’s attorney said her legal team was already working on an appeal.
“We firmly believe in Ghislaine’s innocence. Obviously, we are very disappointed with the verdict,” her lawyer Bobbi Sternheim told reporters outside the courthouse.
“We have already started working on the appeal and we are confident that she will be vindicated,” she said.
The Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, who grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty, could potentially spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Nathan offered her “sincere thanks” to the jury for their service, adding that they served with “diligence.”
After the verdict was read, Nathan adjourned the proceedings and Maxwell walked out of the courtroom into detention as she has done every day of the month-long trial.
