Ghislaine Maxwell loses appeal against sex trafficking conviction

Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal against her sex trafficking conviction has been rejected by a US court.

Maxwell, 62, was found guilty in December 2021 of helping lure young girls for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.

Prosecutors said Maxwell helped Epstein, and made the abuse possible by luring the girls to massage rooms between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022.

On Tuesday, judges on the second circuit in the southern district of New York (SDNY) upheld her five convictions – including sex trafficking minors, conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

The court also concluded Maxwell’s sentence was “procedurally reasonable”.

Maxwell's lawyers argued in March that she “should never have been prosecuted” due to a “weird” agreement drafted more than 15 years ago.

Three judges dismissed her arguments, concluding that the non-prosecution agreement drafted in Florida “does not bind” the United States Attorney’s Office for SDNY.

The judgment also dismissed Maxwell’s claims that she did not have a fair trial after it emerged one of the jurors, Scotty David, failed to disclose he had been sexually abused in his pre-trial questionnaire.

It read: “The district court … determined that Juror 50’s erroneous responses during voir dire were ‘not deliberately incorrect’ and that ‘he would not have been struck for cause if he had provided accurate responses to the questionnaire’.

“In fact, as the district court noted, Maxwell did not challenge the inclusion of other jurors who disclosed past experience with sexual abuse, assault, or harassment.

“This is enough – the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Maxwell’s motion for a new trial.”

During her three-week trial, jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as “dangerous”, and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein’s various properties for him to sexually abuse.

US government lawyers previously said Maxwell’s appeal arguments “fall far short of establishing that sentencing judge Alison Nathan abused her discretion” in her decision not to overturn the jury’s verdict.

They have also said her sentence was not unfair and that her arguments to the contrary are “so cursory and undeveloped” that they should be dismissed.

One of Maxwell's lawyers has said she plans to challenge the ruling in the US Supreme Court.

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Maxwell has been incarcerated since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

Maxwell will continue to serve her sentence at a low-security federal prison in Florida.

Epstein killed himself in prison in August 2019, while awaiting his sex trafficking trial.

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