(New York) Former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on Wednesday by a New York court of a series of sex crimes, in particular the most serious: the trafficking of underage girls for the benefit of the ex-financier American Jeffrey Epstein.
Mme Maxwell, 60, who faces decades in prison, has been appearing in Manhattan federal court since late November on six counts, including providing minors to his former partner to be sexually abused between the years 1994 and 2004. Mr. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
PHOTO LAURA CAVANAUGH / COURTESY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffery Epstein
After 40 hours of deliberation spread over five days, “a unanimous jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of one of the worst crimes imaginable – facilitating and taking part in the sexual assault of children”, Manhattan Federal District Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
These “crimes were perpetrated with his lifelong partner and accomplice, Jeffrey Epstein”, who committed suicide in a New York prison in August 2019, even before being tried for sex crimes.
“Courage of the girls”
“The path to righteousness has taken too long. But justice was delivered today “, welcomed the prosecutor, saluting the” courage of young girls – become women “, four victims who testified for three weeks against Mr.me Maxwell.
At the wording of the verdict, Mme Maxwell, the favorite daughter of newspaper mogul Robert Maxwell (died 1991) and European and American jet set figure, was surrounded by her brother Kevin and sisters Isabel and Christine. Her lawyer Bobbi Sternheim simply asked Judge Alison Nathan to make sure the 60-year-old receives a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in her New York prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who turned 60 on Christmas Day and who is British, French and American at the same time, has been incarcerated since her arrest in the summer of 2020 in the northeastern United States, a year after the suicide of ‘Epstein.
Pressure on the jury
After three weeks of debate, the jury – six women and six men – had all the trouble in the world to agree unanimously on a verdict. So much so that speculation has been rife on a possible acquittal, or even a new trial.
Judge Nathan even had to put pressure on the jury by worrying about the “astronomical peak” of the Omicron variant contaminations of COVID-19 in New York which could have postponed the outcome of the trial beyond the New Year if the one of the parties to the lawsuit had fallen ill.
The prosecution portrayed Mme Maxwell as a “sophisticated predator” who acted knowingly to attract and seduce at the time young girls, sometimes 14, to have coerced sex with Epstein in his residences in Florida, New York or from New Mexico. Often in the presence of the heiress Maxwell.
The shadow of celebrities
Four women, including three under pseudonyms, testified against the accused who, she pleaded not guilty and spoke only once to reaffirm that she was innocent.
Besides Jeffrey Epstein, other celebrity shadows have hovered over this trial: British Prince Andrew, a relative of Mr. Epstein, has been the subject since August of a separate complaint for “sexual assault” filed by an American, Virginia Giuffre.
The names of former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have also been mentioned because of their presence at parties with the Epstein-Maxwell couple in New York or Florida in the 1990s, with supporting photos.
Finally, on the French side, the former model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, friend of Epstein, was indicted and imprisoned in Paris in December 2020 for rape and sexual assault.