Ghislaine Maxwell GUILTY of grooming girls for paedo Jeffrey Epstein to abuse in sex-trafficking trial

GHISLAINE Maxwell has been found guilty of sex trafficking and grooming girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse.

The 60-year-old socialite was accused of “serving up” girls for the multi-millionaire, her former lover, with the pair described as “partners in crime”.

Maxwell showed little emotion as a jury of six women and six men convicted her on five out of six counts of grooming girls for Epstein’s paedophile ring.

But the Brit was found not guilty of enticing a minor to engage in an illegal sex act after more than 40 hours of deliberation.

She now faces spending the rest of her life behind bars – with a likelihood of up to 65 years in prison.

Her family say have started the appeal process against the conviction.

In what was described as the “trial of the century”, the jury heard how Maxwell snared girls as young as 14 for Epstein.

Maxwell, who was labelled “dangerous” by the prosecution, helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein’s various properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

On the final day of the trial on Monday, Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe summed up the prosecution case against Maxwell, who she said was a “grown woman who preyed on vulnerable kids”.

The prosecutor said Maxwell was a “sophisticated predator who knew exactly what she was doing” who “ran the same playbook again and again and again”.

“She manipulated her victims and groomed them. She caused deep and lasting harm to young girls,” Moe said.

“Epstein could not have done this alone. When that man is accompanied by a posh, smiling, respectable, age-appropriate woman, that’s when everything starts to seem legitimate.”

The trial delved into a seemingly glamourous world of wealth – but it was quickly demonstrated how vile and abusive Epstein’s life was.

Prosecutors said Epstein transferred a staggering £26million to Maxwell over the years – which she had used to buy houses and helicopters.

At one stage, Prince Andrew, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton were drawn in, when the jury was told they had all flown on Epstein’s private jet, the so-called ‘Lolita Express’.

There is no suggestions that Trump and Clinton knew of any wrongdoing.

Jurors were told about Maxwell and Epstein’s intimate relationship, how they remained friends after splitting and how she acted as his ‘Lady of the House’ to manage his staff.

Often sobbing as they gave evidence, four women described how they were lured into abuse by Maxwell.

One, identified only as ‘Jane’ detailed how Maxwell recruited her at summer camp and made her feel “special.”

She said sexual encounters with Epstein became routine, with Maxwell sometimes present.

---

What emerged during the trial

• Jury shown creepy pictures of Ghislaine Maxwell giving Jeffrey Epstein a foot massage.
• Maxwell and Epstein pictured lounging in the Queen’s log cabin at Balmoral
• Ghislaine Maxwell laid out a schoolgirl outfit for her to wear while serving tea to paedo Jeffrey Epstein.
• Trump, Andrew and Bill Clinton all flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, the paedo millionaire’s former pilot said
• Maxwell handed Epstein’s housekeeper a “degrading” 58-page booklet which shows staff were told to “see nothing and say nothing”.
• A framed photo of Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein kissing shown

---

Another, going by ‘Carolyn’ said she was usually paid $300 after sexual encounters with Epstein, often by Maxwell herself.

A third alleged victim was Annie Farmer, now 42, who said Maxwell fondled her breasts when she was a teenager at the New Mexico ranch owned by Epstein.

The defence has also sought to portray the accounts of her four accusers as not credible.

Her attorneys argued she was being treated as a stand-in for Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 aged 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.

Defence, attorney Laura Menninger argued that Maxwell had “no motive” for the crimes she’s accused of.

She asked why her client “as a happy, educated woman in her 30s would end her career as a facilitator of sexual abuse”.

“They wanted you to think she was Cruella de Vil and the Devil Wears Prada all wrapped into one,” Menninger told the jury.

“I am not here to defend Jeffrey Epstein. He is not my client.

“The US presented evidence like a sensational tabloid. These were things that Epstein did, perhaps, his crimes. But Ghislaine Maxwell is not Epstein.”

Menninger said the women were motivated to implicate Maxwell by the prospect of a payout from a victim’s compensation fund run by Epstein’s estate.

The women brought personal injury lawyers with them to interviews with law enforcement agents decades after they said the abuse occurred, she told the court.

“The money brought the accusers to the FBI. Memories have been manipulated in aid of the money,” she said.

Maxwell was arrested suddenly in July 2020 by the FBI after being accused of going into hiding over the allegations.

She was detained as she was deemed a flight risk and was repeatedly denied bail.

And this has sparked a long list of complaints about her jail conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Epstein was a wealthy New York financier who amassed a multi-million dollar fortune and hung out with the world’s elite.

The well-connected paedo had a infamous “little black book” including contacts for the rich and famous.

Epstein was first convicted of sex offences in 2008 on a single charge of soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14.

Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, reacting on Twitter to the verdicts, sent out a warning to the duke that “others must be held accountable”.

She said: “My soul yearned for justice for years and today the jury gave me just that.

“I will remember this day always.

“Having lived with the horrors of Maxwell’s abuse, my heart goes out to the many other girls and young women who suffered at her hands and whose lives she destroyed.

“I hope that today is not the end but rather another step in justice being served. Maxwell did not act alone. Others must be held accountable. I have faith that they will be.”

Sigrid McCawley, attorney for Annie Farmer, one of the victims in the Maxwell Trial, said: “Today’s verdict is a towering victory not just for the brave women who testified in this trial, but for the women around the world whose young and tender lives were diminished and damaged by the abhorrent actions of Ghislaine Maxwell.

“For too long their voices were ignored and discounted and their characters impugned and disgraced, but no more.”

Jack Scarola, who represented victim ‘Carolyn’, said: “The conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell is a welcome confirmation of the veracity of the charges brought against her on behalf of the very brave young women whom she directly participated in abusing.”

pixel8000

Nicholas Razzell