Advertisement

Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty on five charges in sex trafficking trial

The prosecution said Maxwell had recruited teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse.
Newstalk
Newstalk

22.12 29 Dec 2021


Share this article


Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty...

Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty on five charges in sex trafficking trial

Newstalk
Newstalk

22.12 29 Dec 2021


Share this article


Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty following her high-profile sex trafficking trial in the US.

She was found guilty on five charges she had faced, and not guilty of one count.

She now faces the prospect of years in prison.

Advertisement

The former socialite had denied recruiting and grooming teenage girls as young as 14 to be abused by her boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein - a convicted sex offender - died by suicide in 2019 in jail while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.

Maxwell was accused of recruiting and grooming four teenagers for Epstein between 1994 and 2004.

Prosecutors had argued Maxwell was Epstein's "partner in crime" and "knew exactly what she was doing".

She was described as a "sophisticated predator" who brought females to Epstein in exchange for money.

Her defence attorneys, meanwhile, had claimed she was being used as a scapegoat for Epstein - saying his death had "left a gaping hole in the pursuit of justice for many of these women".

The trial lasted 13 days, including 10 days for the prosecution case and two days for the defence, and heard from 33 witnesses.

Jury deliberations lasted for five full days.

Jurors in the trial had earlier been asked by the Manhattan court's judge to work through a planned break to avoid catching COVID.

The judge was worried about a possible mistrial if there was an outbreak of the virus before a verdict was reached.

Main image: British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell appears during her arraignment hearing on a new indictment at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City, New York, U.S. April 23, 2021, in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Share this article


Most Popular