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NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking on Tuesday after assisting the late financier Jeffrey Epstein in abusing young girls. The conviction was upheld by a U.S. court.
Her convictions, according to Maxwell’s attorneys, were in violation of an arrangement Epstein made with federal prosecutors fifteen years prior, wherein he consented to enter a guilty plea to sex offenses and his co-conspirators were granted immunity. The attorneys also claimed that there were judicial errors made during her trial and sentencing, and that some of the charges were filed after the statute of limitations had passed.
However, all of those arguments were dismissed by a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
Judge Jose Cabranes said in the decision, “We affirm the District Court’s … judgment of conviction, identifying no errors in the District Court’s conduct of this complex case.”
In December 2021, Maxwell, 62, was convicted of enticing young girls to Epstein between 1994 and 2004 so he could molest them. In June 2022, she received a 20-year prison sentence.
Over the course of more than ten years, Epstein sexually assaulted hundreds of youngsters, taking advantage of defenseless girls as young as fourteen. Maxwell, his lifelong friend, assisted him and enabled the abuse, according to the prosecution.
In 2019, while awaiting trial, he committed suicide.
Due to Epstein and Maxwell’s connections to billionaires, presidents, and royalty, the case has received a lot of attention. The late British media magnate Robert Maxwell, who formerly controlled the New York Daily News, is the father of Maxwell herself.
Although their celebrity connections were not a major factor in Maxwell’s prosecution, references to pals like Donald Trump and Bill Clinton demonstrated how the two took advantage of their connections to win over their target.
The accusations made by a small number of Epstein’s accusers dominated the trial. Four of them testified that they were mistreated in Epstein’s estates in Florida, New York, New Mexico, and the Virgin Islands during the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s.
Epstein and federal prosecutors in Florida came to an agreement in 2007, whereby Epstein would serve 18 months in prison and enter a guilty plea to two sex offenses. Prosecutors agreed not to bring charges against any of Epstein’s co-conspirators as part of the agreement, which is known as an NPA.
The appeals court decided that prosecutors in New York were not covered by this arrangement; rather, it solely pertained to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.
“The NPA does not explicitly demonstrate that it was designed to bind multiple districts,” Carbanes wrote. “Instead, the agreement’s scope is specifically limited to the Southern District of Florida where the NPA is not silent.”
The court also dismissed arguments that some of the allegations were brought too late, citing a 2003 law approved by Congress that declared acts involving the sexual or physical abuse of minors “during the life of the child” would not be subject to the statute of limitations.
Because the previous statute of limitations was insufficient, Congress intended to extend the time to file accusations of sexual abuse for pre-enactment acts, according to the legislative wording, Carbanes noted.
Maxwell is currently incarcerated in Tallahassee, Florida, at a federal low-security prison.
