Ghislaine Maxwell Verdict Reached: Jeffrey Epstein's Former Lover Learns Outcome Of Grooming & Trafficking Charges
Dec. 29 2021, Published 5:11 p.m. ET
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former madam of late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted of recruiting, grooming and trafficking underage girls over a 10-year span in a New York federal court on Wednesday.
The jury made up of 6 men and 6 women handed down its verdict after six days of deliberating as part of the 60-year-old U.K. native's criminal trial that began on Nov. 29.
The disgraced socialite was found guilty of five out of the six charges.
She was convicted of conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and the sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years.
Sentencing will come at a later date, but she could spend the next 65 years behind bars.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, four female victims were among the various witnesses who took the stand during the four-week trial, where they made stomach-turning allegations against Maxwell that supported prosecutors' position that she was Epstein's "partner in crime" from at least 1994 to 2004.
Pivotal moments of the trial included when one of Epstein's infamous massage tables was brought into court for the jurors to see and the bombshell claim that Maxwell may have at one point been pregnant with his child.
The jury ultimately believed the picture that prosecutors, victims and witnesses painted – that Maxwell recruited, groomed and trafficked particularly vulnerable girls under the age of 18 for the accused pedophile to sexually abuse.
About 30 minutes into Wednesday's proceedings, Judge Alison Nathan told jurors that they would need to continue deliberations over the weekend if they could not come to a verdict before then.
She cited a surge in cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, expressing concern that an outbreak among the jury could prompt a mistrial.
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On Tuesday, jurors had handed the judge a note that read, "Our deliberations are moving along, and we are making progress."
