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After a day of debate, a U.S. jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of allegedly sexually abusing financially abusive financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Jury deliberate for five days Maxwell, 60, was found guilty on Wednesday of five of the six crimes, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking, including a prison sentence of up to 40 years.
An ex-girlfriend and Epstein’s partner, the British Socialist pleaded not guilty to all charges against her.
The verdict was limited a highly watched trial There were sordid accounts of the sexual exploitation of 14-year-old girls in the 1990s and early 2000s by four women who were abused as teenagers in Epstein’s homes in Florida, New York, and New Mexico.
Maxwell sat passively in Manhattan court, slowly removing his mask to take a sip of water, while Judge Alison Nathan read the verdicts in each of the six cases.
Nathan offered “sincere thanks” to the jury, adding that they had acted “diligently”.
In addition to sex trafficking, Maxwell was also convicted of conspiracy to induce a minor to travel for illegal sexual acts; conspiracy to transport a minor with intent to commit a crime of sexual activity; the transportation of a minor for the purpose of committing a crime of sexual activity, and the conspiracy to commit the sexual trafficking of minors.
He was acquitted of inciting a minor to travel for illegal sexual acts.
The defense He stressed that Maxwell was the victim of an alleged revenge attempt to bring him to justice, while Epstein committed suicide while awaiting trial in 2019.
But U.S. prosecutors argued that Maxwell was a “dangerous” predator who hired and decorated teenage girls for Epstein.
Epstein’s alleged victims said they were At 14 years old Maxwell allegedly decorated them and brought sexual activity to Epstein when he began arranging to give them massages.
Gabriel Elizondo of Al Jazeera told Maxwell that he would be sentenced to 65 years in prison outside the federal court in New York, where Maxwell was tried on Wednesday.
Elizondo said the defense hoped the long jury debate would lead to acquittal, but the jury reached a “decisive verdict.”
He stressed the importance of victim accounts in the outcome of the trial. “Their testimony was very strong to be honest, and without their testimony, I think it would probably be difficult for the prosecution,” Elizondo said.
Damian Williams, a U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, upheld the verdict, saying Maxwell had committed “one of the worst crimes imaginable.”
“The road to justice has been too long,” Williams said in a statement. “It simply came to our notice then. I want to praise the courage of the girls who came out of the shadows and entered the court, now adult women. Their courage and willingness to fight abuse made this case possible, and today’s result. ”
Lisa Bloom, who previously represented several victims accused of sexually abusing Epsteine, said the jury’s decision “eventually held Maxwell accountable for bringing the girls to Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Maxwell had to be free on this land for 60 years. May he not be free to walk again, ”Bloom wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Epstein’s nine victims said Maxwell’s trial could allow him to be empowered to survive.
Speaking to Sky correspondent UK, Spencer Kuvin said he and his clients saw the verdict as a “complete and mitigating victory”.
“It really makes my clients feel hopeful to be doomed to this bad fate. We hope that the system they knew so far has completely broken with Mr. Epstein has come to a final conclusion,” Kuvin said in an interview in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Maxwell, who he was arrested U.S. authorities were left behind in July 2020 after being denied bail after defense attorneys offered $ 28.5 million and armed guards $ 28.5 million to ensure Maxwell did not escape.
He was remanded in custody on Wednesday, as he is on all days of his trial. No date has been set for his sentencing.
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