Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty on Sex-Trafficking Charges

[IceWizard]

Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty
on Sex-Trafficking Charges


By Dave Paone
December 29, 2021
Updated: December 29, 2021



Ghislaine Maxwell in New York City on Sept. 20, 2013.
(Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images)



NEW YORK—After five days of deliberation, on Dec. 29, a jury found
Ghislaine Maxwell guilty on five of the six sex-trafficking charges brought
against her in federal court.

Maxwell was found guilty on the following charges:

Count One:
Conspiracy to Entice Minors to Travel to Engage in Illegal Sex Acts

Count Three:
Conspiracy to Transport Minors With Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity

Count Four:
Transportation of a Minor With Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity

Count Five:
Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking of Minors

Count Six:
Sex Trafficking of Minors



The jury found her not guilty on count two:
Enticement of a Minor to Travel to Engage in Illegal Sex Acts.

Earlier in the day, the jurors had requested transcripts of five witness testimonies.
The jurors were off for two days for the Christmas holiday and were originally
scheduled to have two days off for New Year’s, but Judge Alison Nathan requested
they be available to work through them.

At 4:57 p.m., all parties were assembled in the courtroom, and Nathan told them,
“We have our verdict.” She asked everyone to remain seated and calm and reminded
them that there were federal marshals in the room in case they were needed.
After the verdict was read, she thanked everyone in the room and told them they
were adjourned.

The testimony of “Jane,” who testified how her abuse by Maxwell and deceased financier
and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein started when she was 14, was directly related
to counts one through four.

Each of the nonconspiracy charges contained elements (up to four), and if the jury
decided just one of them wasn’t satisfied in the nonconspiracy charges, then Maxwell
was not guilty of the entire charge.



Ghislaine Maxwell listens as witness “Kate” is questioned
by prosecutor Lara Pomerantz during the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell,
the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking,
in a courtroom sketch in New York City on Dec. 6, 2021.
(Jane Rosenberg/Reuters)



Maggy Krell, a human rights attorney, a former prosecutor in the California Office
of the Attorney General, and author of the forthcoming book on sex trafficking
“Taking Down Backpage,” had anticipated a quick verdict.

“In my experience, holiday jurors tend to be decisive,” she told The Epoch Times.
“And I don’t think this case was overly complicated.

“You don’t learn in law school when jurors are coming back.”

Krell is aware of the grooming techniques of potential victims the prosecution
presented in its case.

“That’s how grooming works. It’s a classic technique of predators,
and it’s totally ubiquitous,” she said.




Sarah Ransome, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, arrives for the trial of
Ghislaine Maxwell at the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse
in New York City on Nov. 29, 2021.
(Ryan R. Smith/AFP)



Krell said that even though the Maxwell case involves famous, wealthy people and
private jets, “In a lot of ways, it’s a very basic sex-trafficking case that’s playing
out throughout the country, because the techniques are so classic from the trafficker’s
playbook, and that’s the grooming,” she said.

As a former prosecutor, Krell knows how dubious a jury can be.

“It only takes one juror to not agree,” she said. “Finding 12 people to agree is challenging.”

As for sentencing, “some of these counts have 10-year mandatory minimums,”
said Krell. “The judge [will] have to determine what she deserves under these
circumstances.

“Judges tend to not go light on defendants like this,” she said.



Sentencing will be in 2022.