Ghislaine Maxwell Guilty of 5 Out of 6 Sex Trafficking Charges

Verdict comes after month-long trial of former Jeffrey Epstein associate

Ghislaine Maxwell
Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted on 5 out of 6 charges of sex trafficking stemming from her years working with Jeffrey Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial related to accusations she helped recruit, groom and pay teenage girls to engage in sexual acts with Epstein.

According to an AP report on Wednesday the verdict was announced in the New York City courtroom where Maxwell has been on trial since late November. Deliberations began Dec. 20, ceasing after Wednesday for the Christmas holiday weekend before starting up again on Monday.

Prosecutors said Epstein could not have sexually abused girls as young as 14 without Maxwell serving as his “lady of the house.” Maxwell’s lawyers have said she is innocent.

AP reported that jurors deliberated for five full days before finding Maxwell guilty of five of the six counts. Said the report: “As the verdict was read, Maxwell appeared to show little reaction behind a black mask. She stood with her hands folded as the jury filed out, and glanced at her siblings as she herself was led from the courtroom, but was otherwise stoic.”

Maxwell is likely to face years in prison.

During the trial, AP said prosecutors called 24 witnesses to present jurors with picture of what went when on inside Epstein’s home, which has been a subject of “public fascination”since his Epstein’s 2006 arrest in Florida in a child sex case.

The report said a housekeeper testified he was expected to be “blind, deaf and dumb” about the private lives of financier Epstein a financier and Maxwell, who had led a “jet-setting lifestyle as the favorite child of a media mogul.”

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