Ghislaine Maxwell is convicted of recruiting teenagers to Epstein sexual abuse

Ghislaine Maxwell is convicted of recruiting teenagers to Epstein sexual abuse. 

NEW YORK: The former New York City mayor Ghislaine Maxwell is guilty by a U.S. jury on Wednesday of aiding former financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused teenage girls, resulting in a dramatic loss of her grace. British socialite.

Maxwell, 60, was accused of soliciting or grooming four teens in 1994-2004 to Epstein, her former lover who was killed in 2019 in the Manhattan prison cell as he waited for a trial for sexual abuse against him.

She was found guilty of five of six charges, including one count of sex trafficking. 

The lawyers for Maxwell have not yet responded to a question about the possibility of an appeal. 

Maxwell could face as long as 65 years of prison during her yet-to-be-scheduled sentence hearing.

Maxwell’s trial is widely regarded as the moment of reckoning Epstein never faced and one of the most prominent cases following the #MeToo campaign, which empowered women to speak out about abuse committed by powerful and famous people.

During the month’s trial, jurors heard an emotional and explicit account from four women who described Maxwell as the main reason for their sexual abuse by Epstein. 

Three women stated that Maxwell himself touched her naked breasts or was involved in sexual encounters that typically began with massages.

Maxwell’s lawyers sought to undermine the credibility of the women and claim the women are motivated by financial gain to indict Maxwell as all four been awarded million-dollar sums in compensation funds set up for Epstein’s victims.

The women, however, resisted the claims, saying that they chose to testify because of a desire to be fair and not because of money.

“Money won’t ever be able to fix the damage that she did for me.” stated one of the women who was known by her initial name Carolyn. 

She said Maxwell did once touch her naked buttocks and breasts as she was preparing to massage Epstein at the age of 14 in 2002.

Carolyn’s story was at the center of the sex trafficking accusation because she claimed Maxwell would frequently give the hundreds of dollars cash after providing Epstein an erotic massage. 

Carolyn testified that Epstein was known to have sex in the interactions at his Palm Beach, Florida estate.

A jury deliberated for 5 days before reaching a verdict.

When the judge read the verdict out, Maxwell was wearing a burgundy turtleneck and offered herself an ice-cold glass. 

Defense attorney Jeffrey Pagliuca patted her upper back. A blank Maxwell briefly looked at two siblings on the first row before they left the courtroom.

Maxwell will be returning to Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), where she’s been in a cell since July. 

Maxwell has expressed concerns about her treatment in the jail, saying that guards have interrupted her sleep during the night and that the smell of raw sewage has contaminated her cell.

Attorney for defense Bobbi Sternheim demanded U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan when the verdict was read to confirm that Maxwell got her booster vaccination against COVID-19. 

Nathan confirmed that the vaccine is available through MDC, and she would investigate it.